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2015 ASNE Awards are now open for submissions


We're accepting nominations for the 2015 ASNE Awards, our annual journalism contest open for news organizations of all sizes. Read carefully this year's simpler and clearer rules and categories before submitting entries by Tuesday, Feb. 10.

The ASNE Awards, one of the few journalism contests in which news organizations of all sizes compete on equal footing, are now accepting nominations. Specifically updated for this year's awards are simpler and clearer rules and categories. The deadline for entries is 11:59 p.m. EST Tuesday, Feb. 10. 

 

The awards, which encompass nine categories and honor the best in print, online and mobile content, do not include circulation divisions. This means small news operations compete head-to-head with traditional award-winning juggernauts, such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.

 

Having no circulation divisions could mean to some competitors that it's more difficult to win an award, but, on the other hand, it makes victory that much sweeter. Journalists at ProPublica; the El Paso (Texas) Times; The Joplin (Missouri) Globe; The Bergen County Record; the Wisconsin State Journal; The News-Star, Monroe, La.; and the Denton (Texas) Record-Chronicle have been winners in the ASNE Awards competition in the past eight years. In the ASNE contest, quality journalism finds its way to the top of the pile regardless of the size of the organization producing it.  

 

In calculating entry fees, however, the ASNE contest does take size into account. There is a $75 fee for newspapers with circulations above 100,000 and a $40 entry fee for everyone else, including online-only news organizations. The contest is open to all newspapers, news services and news websites in the United States, including those without an ASNE member on staff.

 

All participating organizations must have a contest-website login to submit entries by 11:59 p.m. EST Tuesday, Feb. 10. Emails are going out this week to the editor or main contact at news organizations with the single username and password that allows nominations from that specific organization. If your organization does not receive this information via email, please contact ASNE Finance Director Cindy Roe at croe@asne.org or 573-884-2405.

 

Thanks to our sponsors, five of the nine ASNE awards come with a $2,500 cash prize. They are:

  • The Batten Medal, sponsored by a group of editors from the former Knight Ridder company
  • The Burl Osborne Award for Editorial Leadership, sponsored by The Dallas Morning News
  • The Punch Sulzberger Award for Online Storytelling, sponsored by The New York Times
  • The Deborah Howell Award for Nondeadline Writing, sponsored by Advance Publications, Inc.
  • The Mike Royko Award for Commentary/Column Writing, sponsored by the Chicago Tribune


The remaining four awards not sponsored are:

  • Distinguished Writing on Diversity Award
  • Local Accountability Reporting Award
  • Community Service Photojournalism Award
  • Breaking News Writing Award 

Winners will be announced in the spring and will be recognized at the Oct. 16-18 ASNE-APME conference at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

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