Journalism AwardsGuidelines for Entry
Deadline: Professional entries must be received no later than January 19, 2024. Student entries must be received no later than January 26, 2024.
Entries must have been first published or broadcast in the United States between January 1 and December 31, 2023.
Entries may be submitted either by individuals or news organizations.
Entries must have the following materials and be submitted online –no exceptions:
A completed official entry form
An entry fee of $75.00
Each Journalism Award winner will receive a cash prize and a bust of Robert F. Kennedy. The professional category winners will receive $1,000 and the student categories will receive $500.
SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS FOR EACH CATEGORY
Each professional category - except for Editorial Cartoon, Radio, and Nontraditional Media - includes subcategories for domestic and international news coverage and allows for submissions by journalists in Internet-based, related media.
International submissions are stories that have been published or broadcast by any media source, foreign or domestic, that address an international issue outside of the United States.
Domestic submissions are those that have been published or broadcast by any media source, foreign or domestic, that address issues in the United States.
Print:
Print article
Brief summary of article and its impact
Television:
Copy of script
Synopsis of the piece and its impact
Radio:
Radio entry
Copy of the script
Brief description of entry and its impact
Photography:
Brief description of body of work and its impact
There is no limit to how many photos may be included in a series.
No single photo entries are allowed.
Editorial Cartoon:
Electronic portfolio of cartoon work
Brief description of body of work and its impact
Cartoon submissions must be presented as a body of work. Single entries will not be accepted. Please limit portfolios to a maximum of 15 cartoons.
Nontraditional Media:
Electronic file of individual story or series that speaks to Robert F. Kennedy’s principles of justice and equality
Brief description of work and its impact
Criminal Justice:
The 2024 cycle will feature a separate category for work on mass incarceration and its effects on American society. This category will honor exemplary reporting on the criminal or immigration legal systems, examining how incarceration and criminalization affect both those imprisoned and those outside prison walls. The focus of winning entries might reflect issues such as human rights abuses in criminal or immigration enforcement, collateral consequences of criminalization that extend to housing, employment, and education, or non-punitive solutions to complex social issues.
High School and College Journalism Awards:
Rules and Exclusions:
- Entries must have been first published or broadcast in the United States between January 1 and December 31, 2023.
- Entries may be submitted either by individuals or by school organizations.
- Entries may be submitted by teams or entire classes. Entries are limited to one per student, but a school may have multiple entries.
- Advisers/Teachers may not shoot, write, or edit any part of a student entry. This is a hands-off contest and must be 100% student produced.
- For the College Journalism category, all mediums will be accepted.
- Broadcast entries should not exceed 10 minutes in length.
There is no entry fee for High School or College categories.
JUDGING CRITERIA
Entries will be judged on a variety of criteria, including appropriateness of subject matter; quality of sources and depth of research; presentation; impact of the entry on the problem it highlights; and courage in reporting. Entrants must be able to authenticate their work.