UPDATE: Deadline extended for entries to Friday, Feb. 23 at 11:59 p.m.
The Detroit chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is calling for entries to the annual Excellence in Media awards. We will be presenting awards for outstanding journalism in Michigan across all platforms including publications, broadcast, digital and social media during the calendar year 2023.
At the same time, SPJ Detroit is accepting nominations for the Journalist of the Year and Young Journalist of the Year awards. College students are invited to apply for the 2024 Laurain Scholarship program.
The deadline for the Journalist of the Year, the Young Journalist of the Year and Laurain Scholarship nominations is Feb. 29.
Winners will be announced in late April or early May 2024, and presented at our annual banquet in the spring.
Please note these modest changes to the competition:
- Radio and TV entries are now separate categories.
- A fee has been added for entries in the Journalist and Young Journalist of the Year categories.
We also have created a fee category for freelancers not affiliated with any media organization. Here is the current fee structure for all entries:
- SPJ members, $40; non-SPJ members, $60; SPJ student members, $25; non-SPJ student members, $30.
- Freelancers and small newsrooms (fewer than 10 employees), $30.
- Journalist of the Year and Young Journalist of the Year nominations require the same entry fees as above.
- Entrants who qualify for a lower fee level are advised to contact the contest Administrator prior to submitting their entries. SPJ Detroit will pre-set the entrance fee on the entry forms of “known” SPJ members.
- Media organizations may qualify for the SPJ membership rates if at least one person within the organization is a member of Detroit SPJ.
To qualify for lower fees, individuals or organizations are invited to join SPJ here; please be sure to enroll as a member of the Detroit Chapter. If there are any questions about eligibility, please submit them to SPJDetroit.org
Click below to see the flyer with details, rules and deadlines.
We will be using the Better BNC contest platform again this year. Please click below for a link to instructions for entering.