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Ohio’s Best Journalism – 2024

OHIO SPJ AWARDS COMPETITION | www.ohiospjawards.org

To look at the List of Categories, please click here.

DEADLINE: 

Monday, April 8, 2024.  

Welcome!

If it is your first time here, please click on 'My Account' in the top right corner to create a new account. Please note that if you're a returning applicant from our 2023 contest, you can use your 2023 account for this year's contest. See log-in below.

Once you've registered and logged in, you will be able to submit and manage entries, including paying for them online. For those who prefer to pay by check, that is still an option. 

To get started, please create an account:

  1. Click on 'My Account' in the top right corner.

  2. Enter information under "Create a New Account."

  3. Click Register.

  4. You will automatically be taken to a page to submit an entry. 

Returning Visitors 

  1. Log in with your user name and password.
  2. Click here to start a new entry.

CALL FOR ENTRIES

Ohio’s Best Journalism, presented collaboratively by the Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland Pro Chapters of The Society of Professional Journalists, honors print, broadcast, digital, trade, freelance and college journalists in Ohio for their best work during 2023.

This is the only Ohio competition that honors journalists who fulfill the SPJ mission: defense of the First Amendment, support of literacy, resistance to censorship, advocacy for openness of public records and meetings, media self-criticism and community service. This program also recognizes the best college daily and weekly newspapers.

ELIGIBILITY:

Journalists are eligible who work for newspaper, magazine, radio, television, trade, digital and college media in Ohio and adjacent states that have significant reach into Ohio. Freelance journalists, who are Ohio residents, are eligible, regardless of where their work is published, broadcast or webcast. We have numerous freelance categories in response to the growing number of freelance journalists; those categories were combined with Digital Media in 2023. Click here for Digital Media/Freelance categories. Newsletter and blog submissions also are welcome. Entrants need not be members of the Society of Professional Journalists. Submitted work must have been published or broadcast in 2023.

DEADLINE: 

Monday, April 8, 2024. 

FEES:                        ­

A $27 (SPJ members) entry fee ($32 for non-SPJ members) must accompany each submission, except college entries. College students pay a $12 entry fee for writing of news, feature, sports and opinion. College newspapers may enter the best college daily and non-daily newspaper categories for free. There is a $5 discount per entry for work by SPJ members. You may submit any given article in as many relevant categories as you wish.

SPJ MEMBER DISCOUNT: 

Become a member and save $5 per entry.  To qualify for the SPJ Member Discount, you will have to provide the SPJ Member Number of the person who did the work.  In the event of a team project, at least one member of the team must be an SPJ member to qualify for the SPJ Member Discount. 

VERIFY YOUR SPJ MEMBER NUMBER: 

To look up your SPJ Member Number, go to https://www.spj.org/members_edit.asp

JOIN SPJ: 

To become an SPJ member go to http://www.spj.org/join.asp.

SPREAD THE WORD: 

OpenWater makes it easy to share the contest site with your colleagues and friends. Look for the social media icons (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) on the left side of this page.

FAQs / Rules: 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are answered on the Help page.

Click here to read the rules.

OTHER QUESTIONS?

If you have additional questions, please email them to Contest Administrator Sarah Mills Bacha, contact@ohiospjawards.org

DEADLINE: Monday, April 8, 2024.  

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