Here’s a list of current media and journalism awards, including deadlines for applying. If we’re missing any major awards, please contact Mark Glaser at mark [at] mediashift [dot] org, and we’ll add them to the list. Any Featured Awards are paid sponsorships. Award descriptions are excerpts, edited for length and clarity.
SEPTEMBER & BEYOND DEADLINES
PILOT Innovation Challenge
National Association of Broadcasters
PILOT is calling on all entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and creative thinkers to submit their ideas for accelerating broadcast innovation in the first annual PILOT Innovation Challenge. The challenge question: How might local television and radio broadcasters engage their communities with next generation content on any device, whether big, small or moving?
Deadline: Sep. 23, 2016
National Press Foundation Awards
The National Press Foundation celebrates the best of journalism with its annual awards. These prestigious and highly coveted awards are open to journalists across the media spectrum.
Deadline: Oct. 14, 2016
Webby Awards
The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. The Webbys now honors excellence in 6 major media types: Websites, Film & Video, Advertising, Media & PR, Social, Mobile Sites & Apps and Podcasts & Digital Audio.
Early Deadline: Oct. 28, 2016
Hearst Journalism Awards Program – Feature Writing
William Randolph Hearst Foundation
The Hearst Journalism Awards Program was founded in 1960 to provide support, encouragement, and assistance to journalism education at the college and university level. The program awards scholarships to students for outstanding performance in college-level journalism, with matching grants to the students’ schools. The feature writing category is open to color or mood articles covering news, business, feature or entertainment, as opposed to conventional news stories or personality profiles.
Deadline: Nov. 1, 2016
New Media Film Festival Awards
For years, The New Media Film Festival has led the way in the pursuit of stories worth telling, the exploration of new media technologies, boundary pushing resulting in new distribution models and creating and establishing new methodologies in the global monetization of content. A total of $45,000 in awards will be given out.
Regular Deadline: Nov. 3, 2016
The Michael Kelly Award
Atlantic Media Co.
The Michael Kelly Award honors a writer or editor whose work exemplifies a quality that animated Michael Kelly’s own career: the fearless pursuit and expression of truth.
Deadline: Feb. 3, 2017
Ancil Payne Awards for Ethics in Journalism
University of Oregon
The Ancil Payne Awards honor journalists who exhibit extraordinary commitment to the highest standards of ethical conduct in journalism, even when faced with economic, personal or political pressure.
Deadline: Feb. 13, 2017
DEADLINES DOWN THE LINE
Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards
Columbia University
The award recognizes excellence in broadcast, documentary and digital journalism.
Asian Digital Media Awards
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers
The awards honor Asian publishers that have excelled in their digital offerings.
Data Journalism Awards
Global Editors Network
The awards is an international contest recognizing outstanding work in data journalism worldwide.
Middle East Digital Media Awards
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers
The awards honor Middle Eastern publishers that have excelled in their digital offerings.
Meyer “Mike” Berger Award
The Columbia Journalism Awards
The Meyer “Mike” Berger Award and its $2,000 cash prize are awarded for outstanding human interest reporting across platforms.
Mirror Awards
Syracuse University S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
The Mirror Awards honor excellence in media industry reporting in various categories for various forms of media.
New America Award
Society of Professional Journalists
SPJ’s New America Award honors public service journalism that explores and exposes an issue of importance to immigrant or ethnic communities currently living in the United States.
Pulitzer Prizes
Columbia University
The Pulitzer Prize awards achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition.
Selden Ring Award
Presented by the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, the Selden Ring Award highlights the importance of investigative journalism in modern day reporting. Nominations are generally received in January.
Sigma Delta Chi Awards
Society of Professional journalists
The awards recognize the best in professional journalism in categories covering print, radio, television, newsletters, art/graphics, online and research.
Society of Professional Journalists Awards
The Society of Professional Journalists has various awards for professional to collegiate journalists for excellence in various forms of media. Awards are rolling and there are several with deadlines in June. Please check the site for more details.
The Bookmarks Awards
Digital Media and Marketing Association
The Bookmarks Awards, based in South Africa, honor excellence in digital work, from websites, app development and games to multimedia and digital journalism.
The Cabot Prizes
The Columbia Journalism Awards
The prizes recognize a distinguished body of work that has contributed to Inter-American understanding.
Ben DeJarnette is the associate editor at MediaShift. He is also a freelance contributor for Pacific Standard, InvestigateWest, Men’s Journal, Runner’s World, Oregon Quarterly and others. He’s on Twitter @BenDJduck.