Entries now open for National Newspaper Awards

Toronto, December 1, 2020 – The National Newspaper Awards have begun accepting entries for the 2020 competition.

Entries will be accepted in 22 categories, including one new category, between December 1, 2020, and January 15, 2021. Finalists will be announced in mid-March, and winners will be announced on Friday, April 23.

This year for the first time, entry fees are being waived for submissions from organizations that support the awards by participating in our Benefactor program. For all other entries, the fee remains $50 plus HST per entry.

To be eligible, an entry must have been published first in 2020 by an eligible organization, with the work having been performed by an eligible entrant, as defined under the contest Rules of Entry. Rules can be viewed at https://nna-ccj.ca/rules/. Entry procedures can be viewed at https://nna-ccj.ca/tips-on-entering/. Categories can be viewed at https://nna-ccj.ca/entry-categories/.

A few changes to rules and categories were announced earlier this year. Highlights include:

  • A new category, “Sustained News Coverage,” has been created. It becomes the 22nd category in the competition. This category is intended to recognize exceptional ongoing reporting on a single story over a prolonged period of weeks or months. The story may have had its origin in a variety of ways, such as an initial unexpected event, a series of events or the emergence of an important issue. This category is not an alternative to Beat Reporting; rather, it is intended to recognize ongoing coverage of a specific story that would not in itself constitute a “beat” in any traditional sense.
  • Entry fees will be waived for all entries from “benefactor organizations.” Benefactor organizations are news organizations that pay an annual fee, as determined by the Board of Governors, by December 1. For all other entries, the fee will remain at $50 plus HST per entry.
  • The entry period has been expanded by two weeks. Entries will be accepted between December 1 and January 15. As was the case for the 2019 competition, categories will be closed to entries on a staggered basis starting January 9. Final deadlines for each category can be found below.
  • Disclosure requirements regarding work done by freelance and contract journalists have been changed. Journalists who provide work on a freelance or contract basis remain eligible to enter the competition, provided they meet eligibility criteria as set out in the Rules of Entry. To assist administrators with determining eligibility, all entries will now have a requirement to stipulate whether the submitted work was done by an employee (permanent or temporary) or someone working on a freelance or contract basis.
  • Procedures with respect to how entries are credited to those who did the entered work have been adjusted.
  • New procedures have been established for the reporting of results by chief judges in each category, to ensure the accuracy of results.

2020 entry deadlines

  • Arts and Entertainment: Saturday, January 9
  • Beat Reporting: Friday, January 15
  • Breaking News: Friday, January 15
  • Breaking News Photo: Friday, January 15
  • Business: Monday, January 11
  • Columns: Monday, January 11
  • Editorial Cartooning: Saturday, January 9
  • Editorials: Saturday, January 9
  • Explanatory Work: Monday, January 11
  • Feature Photo: Saturday, January 9
  • General News Photo: Wednesday, January 13
  • International: Wednesday, January 13
  • Investigations: Friday, January 15
  • Local Reporting: Monday, January 11
  • Long Feature: Wednesday, January 13
  • Politics: Wednesday, January 13
  • Presentation/Design: Wednesday, January 13
  • Project of the Year: Friday, January 15
  • Short Feature: Friday, January 15
  • Sports: Saturday, January 9
  • Sports Photo: Monday, January 11
  • Sustained News Coverage:Wednesday, January 13

This is the 72nd year of the awards, which were established in 1949 to encourage excellence and reward achievement in daily newspaper work in Canada.

More information about the awards program can be found here:

For more information, contact:

Paul Woods, Executive Director
National Newspaper Awards
exec@nna-ccj.ca