Near record number of entries in NNAs

The National Newspaper Awards pulled in 1,469 entries this year, just shy of the all-time record of 1,472, set in 2005.

The total for the 2010 competition was 170 more than the previous year.

Two photography categories led the way. Feature Photography attracted 126 entries, the same number as News Feature Photo. There were 115 Column entries, 111 Long Features (down from 132), and 103 Short Features.

Beat Reporting came in at 95 entries, the most ever since the category was introduced in 2002.

Local Reporting nearly doubled the number of entries in this exclusive small market category (under 30,000 average daily circulation). The category logged 35 entries, compared with 19 in 2009.

The newest category, Multi-Media Feature, drew 22 entries, up from 19 the year before.

Other increases in entries were in Breaking News (42, up from 38); International Reporting (50, up from 31); Editorial Writing (34, up from 29); Arts and Entertainment (83, up from 70); Sports (58, up from 57); Spot News Photo (69, up from 53); Sports Photography (86, up from 69); Special Project (20, up from 16); Presentation (67, up from 43); Explanatory Work (69, up from 67); and Politics (48, up from 37).

Other categories with slight declines: Investigations (39, down from 44); Editorial Cartooning (24, down from 26); and Business Reporting (47, down from 53).

All entries are in the hands of the 66 judges (three judges in each category) and results are expected in mid-March.