Salute to Excellence Information

NABJ's annual journalism awards competition includes categoriesfor Print, Radio, Television and New Media.

NABJ received more than 300 entries for this year’s awards. Stay tuned for more details about the must-attend awards gala scheduled for October 9 in Washington, D.C.

» 2003 Salute to Excellence Winners
» Letter from the Chairman
» NABJ Special Honors Awards

Print

Daily News
Any daily news story, or cluster of related articles, on a single event or issue.

Enterprise
An in-depth or investigative news article or series on a single topic or issue.

Features
Any news feature, profile, review or analytical piece on a specific topic or issue, including arts and entertainment.

Sports
Any article or series devoted to a sports topic or issue.

Business
Any article or series devoted to a business topic or issue.

Environmental Reporting
Any article or series devoted to an environmental topic or issue including medical or health stories.

International Reporting
Any news article or series about events outside the continental United States and its territories.

Commentary
Any editorial, opinion column or commentary article, or cluster of related pieces on a specific topic or issue.

Magazines
Any article or series printed in a general interest or trade magazine on a specific topic or issue.

Copy Editing
Candidates may submit a body of work that includes good headlines and captions, great catches and before-and-after versions of stories showing improvement to copy and samples of layouts. Include a supervisor’s or copy chief’s recommendation.

Photography: Single Image
A singular news or feature photograph, including sports.

Photography: Multiple Images
A photo essay or package of photographs accompanying a story, series or package of related stories.

Art & Design: Page Design/Graphics
A single page design or multiple designs accompanying a story, series or package of related stories. May include a single graphic or graphics that are informational and/or illustrative. Graphics may be used as stand-alone art.

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News
A single story or series on a single event or issue. The segments must have been broadcast during a regular newscast. Maximum length for entries is 30 minutes, regardless of total broadcast length.

Sports
A single story or series dealing with a sports topic.

Enterprise/Documentary
An in-depth exploration of an important and timely issue. Entries should be longer than five minutes but not longer than 60 minutes, regardless of the length of the entire program.

Features
A human interest story, profile or review on a specific topic or issue, including arts and entertainment.

Commentary
A single essay, editorial or opinion piece, or cluster of related pieces on a specific topic or issue.

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Television

News - Short
A single story or cluster of related stories on a single event or issue. The segments must have been broadcast during a regular newscast. Maximum length for entries is up to five minutes, regardless of total broadcast length.

News - Long
A single story or cluster of related stories on a single event or issue. The segments must have been broadcast during a regular newscast. Maximum length for entries is 30 minutes, regardless of total broadcast length.

Enterprise
An in-depth or investigative story or series. The segments must have been broadcast during a regular newscast.

Features - Short
A feature story or series on a specific person, program or issue. Maximum length for entries is up to five minutes, regardless of total broadcast length.

Features - Long
A feature story or series on a specific person, program or issue. Maximum length for entries is 30 to 60 minutes.

Environmental Reporting
Any story or series devoted to an environmental topic or issue including medical or health stories.

Sports
A single story or series dealing with a sports topic.

International Reporting
A single report or a series of reports on an international topic aired within a regularly scheduled newscast, public affairs/news magazine program or as a special report. Entries should be no more than 60 minutes long, regardless of total broadcast length. The entries do not have to be produced outside the United States.

Documentary
An in-depth exploration of an issue or topic that aired as a separate program outside a regularly scheduled newscast. Entries should be at least 30 minutes long but no more than 60 minutes long, regardless of total broadcast length.

Public Affairs/News Magazines
A single story broadcast within a public affairs or news magazine program of particular concern to the African American community. Entries should be no more than 60 minutes long, regardless of total broadcast length.

Photojournalism
A single story, series, photographic essay or documentary that deals with the lives of African Americans and the black condition. At least 75 percent of the footage must be taken by the photographer or station submitting the piece.

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New Media

Best Online News Project
Open to Web-only news projects and/or news projects that have companion elements in print or broadcast. Applicants should demonstrate in detail how the online project differed from what was broadcast or published
in print.

Best Use of Interactivity
Open to news and non-news sites. Candidates must demonstrate an innovative use of technology to communicate ideas, deliver information and/or bring people together effectively. Examples include public service, virtual timeliness, interactive graphics, interactive mapping, multimedia components and message boards. Judges will look at how the project enlightened or empowered the community.

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Contest Rules

Deadline - Entries must be received at NABJ headquarters no later than 5 p.m. EST Wed., March 31, 2004.

• Materials may be submitted by the journalist, publication or a representative of the media outlet.

• Only work published or broadcast originally during the judging period of January 1, 2003, through December 31, 2003, is eligible for consideration.

• An official NABJ entry form must accompany each entry. Forms are available at the NABJ national office or on the Web site at www.nabj.org. A nominating letter should accompany each entry, indicating the importance and impact of the work and any community reaction. The contest fee is $75 for members and $100 for non-members per entry. Make checks or money orders payable to: NABJ Salute to Excellence Awards. (Note: If you are paying your membership dues at the same time you are entering the contest, please send your membership form and check separately). Entry forms submitted without correct fees will not be processed.

• For print entries, submit two copies of the published work and one copy of the same work mounted, no larger than 11x17 inches.

• Photo entries must be submitted as slides or on CDs along with two copies of the published work. Tearsheets are acceptable.

• Television entries must be submitted on VHS tapes. Submit two copies of videotapes for each entry.

• Radio entries must be submitted on cassette tapes or audio CDs. Submit two copies of cassette tapes or CDs for each entry.

• Submissions become the property of NABJ and will not be returned.

• An entry can be submitted in only one category. Multiple entries must be submitted separately. Fees must be attached to each entry. Each entry must be submitted with a separate check.

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Judging Procedures

• Newspaper entries for each category will be grouped and judged according to circulation. Entries from papers with a circulation of less than 150,000 will be judged together, as will entries from papers with a circulation of 150,000 or higher.

• Magazines are also judged in circulation categories–less than one million and more than one million.

• Radio and photojournalism entries will be judged without respect to market circulation or size.

• Television entries for each category will be based on market ranking. Entries from the networks and the top 15 markets will be judged together, as will entries from markets 16 and below.