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FAQs

1. Can I send my payment for entry later?

We must receive payment by Feb. 1, 2013 when the entries are turned over to the judges. If we have not received payment by then, your entry will not be forwarded to them.

2. What are the entry fees? 

For EWA members, $50 for a single entry and $40 for each additional entry. For nonmembers, $100 for each entry.

3. Does my entry have to be submitted online?

Yes. If you have questions, please contact Mikhail Zinshteyn, Program Assistant, at mzinshteyn@ewa.org or (202) 452-9830.

4. What is the latest date for accepting entries?

All entries must be uploaded by 4:59 p.m. ET on Feb. 1, 2013, to be eligible for entry.

5. Does the entry have to come from my current employer? I want to submit something from a previous employer.

You can submit work from a previous place of employment as long as a majority of it was published/aired in the 2012 calendar year. Entries that are part of a series can include work from the preceding year, provided that the majority of the pieces ran in 2012.

6. Are the fees per article or per entry? 

The payment is per entry, not per article. For example, if an entry permits up to seven articles or pieces and you submit seven articles for that entry, you pay once.

7. Can I take back an entry I submitted? What about a refund?

Once an entry is submitted, you cannot delete it, so use the application process carefully. We cannot refund your application fee, either.

8. I have a series that might be investigative. Should I hedge my bets and enter it into regular series instead?

No. It's not a strategy that works. The judges can move entries into another category if they feel the entry doesn't fit into the category they are judging -- and they often do.

9. Do you accept entries in languages other than English? 

At this time, we can only accept entries written or broadcast in English.

10. Can I enter a story in more than one category?

No, pieces cannot be entered in multiple categories, except those entered in the beat category.

11. I have a submission that ran as part of a partnership with a different outlet, what do I do?

If you are an education-specific or public interest news organization, your work will run in the category for which the collaborating partner would be eligible. For all other instances, contact Mikhail Zinshteyn, Program Assistant, at mzinshteyn@ewa.org or (202) 452-9830.

12. I write for a daily blog of a magazine or weekly publication. Do I still apply for that category?

Yes. There is no best blog category, but feel free to submit your work in the two listed categories.

13. How will you know the size of my newsroom? And why the change?

Journalism is about trust and ethics, and we apply that standard to the contest guidelines. We’ll take you at your word, though if we have reason to believe you fall into a different category size, we may follow up with you and move your submission to its rightful place. We adopted the FTE newsroom staff model of gauging the size of the publication because we believe that metric has more to do with the resources and bandwidth of an outlet than circulation size or web hits.

14. I am an advocate but I also contribute to a news outlet or magazine. What do I do?

If a journalism outlet published or produced your entry, enter it in the contest category that applies to that outlet. Otherwise, you’ll apply under “Education Organizations and Experts,” which applies to content that is unaffiliated with an independent newsroom.

15. I’m a one-person news blog unaffiliated with a news site, am I an advocate or a small-staff news outlet?

If you produce news pieces, your work can be entered in any of the small newsroom categories (or the education-only categories, provided your blog is eligible). Blogs that are chiefly dedicated to education journalism, including opinion blogs, should be submitted to the “Education-Only News Outlets” categories. Non-journalism content, like advocacy or activist content, should be entered into the “Education Organizations and Experts” categories.

16. We write for a think tank and want to submit articles written by various staffers in Ongoing Coverage of an Issue under Education Organizations and Experts. Can we submit entries for more than one topic?

Yes. However, your organization should not submit more than one entry on a particular topic, although each entry may contain multiple pieces.

17. I’m a teacher with a blog. Can I apply?

Yes, under “Education Organizations and Experts” Best Blog category.

18. I am a freelance writer, what do I do?

You have several options. Collect your work and decide in which umbrella group of categories it belongs (magazines and weeklies, education-only, etc.). For example, if you want to submit items that ran in various magazines, pick out up to five of your best clips and send those as your single entry.