• Distinguished Writing Awards
• Jesse Laventhol Prizes for Deadline News Reporting
• Freedom Forum/ASNE Award for Distinguished Writing on Diversity
• Community Service Photojournalism Award

The American Society of Newspaper Editors annually recognizes excellence in the journalistic crafts of writing and photography. ASNE is the premier organization of editors in the Americas and its activities concentrate on improving the diversity, readership, and credibility of newspapers.

Categories
ASNE will present eight awards for work done in 2005. Descriptions of the awards follow, along with the rules for submissions.

Four Distinguished Writing Awards
Cash Prizes: $2,500. These awards are funded by the ASNE Foundation, with the support of the Society members. Entries are judged on the basis of style, precision of word usage, structure, descriptive power, narrative skill, and the like. Credibility and attribution will be valued, and credit will be given to concise and efficient writing.

Non-Deadline Writing: Any writing by an individual (except commentary or editorials) that is not accomplished on deadline. The submission may be drawn from any section of the newspaper and may include investigative and news-related material as well as features such as profiles, interviews, trend stories, lifestyle, travel, etc. Minimum of 3 articles, maximum of 5. A nominating letter may accompany the entry but is not required.

Commentary/Column Writing: Any writing by an individual that expresses a personal point of view, including columns and other journalistic forms of opinion, but not editorials. Minimum of 3 articles, maximum of 5. A nominating letter may accompany the entry but is not required.

Editorial Writing: Editorials, signed or unsigned, written by one individual, that speak for the newspaper. Minimum of 3 editorials, maximum of 5. A nominating letter may accompany the entry but is not required.

Local Watchdog Reporting: Outstanding work done by newspapers that holds important local institutions accountable for their actions. The reporting should be investigative in nature, and judges will give preference to work that made a documentable difference in the newspaper's community. The work must be anchored within the community -- reports from overseas or national reporting does not qualify. Individual or team work will be accepted for this category. Minimum of 3 articles, maximum of 5. Each story in a series will count as one of the -- as will sidebars. Two supplemental sources may be included beyond the five entered stories to provide context and must be labeled as such. A nominating letter explaining the work and its impact is welcome.

Two Jesse Laventhol Prizes for Deadline News Reporting
Cash Prizes: $10,000. The Laventhol Prizes are endowed with a generous gift from David Laventhol in honor of his father, Jesse Laventhol, a reporter for newspapers in Philadelphia in the 1920s and 1930s.

Entries are judged for writing and substance in covering breaking news events under deadline pressure. Descriptive power, literary style, depth and breadth of reporting, timeliness, completeness, and perspective will be evaluated.

Deadline Reporting by an Individual: Newspapers are urged to consider entering deadline stories from sports, metro, national, and foreign desks. This category should not be confined to the big local story. Minimum of 1 article, maximum of 3. A nominating letter no longer than one page must accompany the entry.

Deadline Reporting by a Team: The submission should consist of a single day's published work by the team. Minimum of 1 article, maximum of 3. A nominating letter no longer than one page must accompany the entry. NOTE: A writer nominated for individual deadline reporting cannot be entered for the team award.

One Freedom Forum/ASNE Award for Distinguished Writing on Diversity
Cash Prize: $2,500. This award is funded by a gift from The Freedom Forum.

The Diversity Award: News and feature writing by an individual that helps readers understand how racial and ethnic diversity are changing their communities. Columns and editorials are not eligible in this category. Minimum of 3 articles, maximum of 5. A nominating letter may accompany the entry but is not required.

Presentation for Writing Awards
• Submit entries on 8-1/2" x 11" sheets. Each article should be cut into columns and pasted onto 8-1/2" x 11" sheets with no fold-overs.
• Do not photographically reduce articles.
• Original tear sheets, rather than photocopies, are preferred for the cut-and-paste mounting.
• If tear sheets are not available, computer printouts of copy are acceptable, but must be presented on 8-1/2" x 11" sheets.
• Headline and date of publication must be included and may be typed at the head of individual sheets.
• Articles for submission must be placed inside a letter-size file folder, with an official entry form stapled to the front of the folder.
• A nominating letter must accompany entries for the Laventhol Deadline Reporting awards. Letters are optional for the other writing award categories. All letters should be limited to one page.

One Community Service Photojournalism Award
Cash Prize: $2,500. The award is funded by the ASNE Foundation.
• Photojournalism Award: For compelling work by an individual. This contest will reward a photographer who has an understanding of his/ her community and captures the sense of that community with powerful and meaningful images.
• A maximum of 15 prints.
• A letter no longer than one page must accompany the entry, and it must be specific in explaining the photojournalism's effect on the community.

Presentation for Photojournalism Award
• Photos should be on 8-1/2" x 11" or 8" x 11" glossy paper. (Good quality computer printouts are acceptable.) Do not send prints larger than 8-1/2" x 11".
• Send no more than 15 prints from the project. All photos submitted must have been published in the newspaper or on the newspaper's Web site.
• To establish context, tearsheets must be submitted for the entire project, even if they show more than the 15 best or most telling pictures selected.
• The photographic prints may be submitted in color or black and white, regardless of how they originally appeared.

About the Competition
The ASNE awards are designed to recognize, foster, and reward the finest writing in daily newspapers and wire services and the most outstanding community service photojournalism. Content may be great events or small happenings.
• In ALL categories except Deadline Reporting by a Team and Local Watchdog Reporting, entries must be the work of one person.
• All entries must have been published in 2005 and must be postmarked no later than Feb. 1, 2006.

General Rules and Procedures
Please follow the outlined rules and procedures carefully to ensure that your entry is accepted. Entries that do not conform to these rules may be disqualified.

• Eligibility: All daily newspapers and wire services (that serve daily newspapers) in the United States are eligible to enter. Outside the United States, daily newspapers that are headed by an active member of ASNE are also eligible. All entries must be submitted in English.

• The work of full-time or part-time employees is eligible. The work of free-lancers is not.

• A ranking editor of the organization must sign and submit the entry.

• Deadline: Entries must be submitted by Feb. 1, 2006. Only work published in 2005 is eligible. The awards will be presented at the April 2006 ASNE Convention in Seattle.

• Team Entries: Team entries are eligible only for two categories this year: Deadline Reporting by a Team and Local Watchdog Reporting. All other categories accept only work by an individual.

• No Multiple Entries: A news organization can make only one entry in each of the eight categories. An individual cannot be entered in more than one category, with this single exception: A writer nominated for the team award in deadline reporting can also be nominated in one of the distinguished writing categories (but not in the individual deadline reporting category).

• Reprint Rights : Reprint rights are granted to The Poynter Institute, ASNE, and the publisher of "Best Newspaper Writing" by virtue of entry in this contest.

• Entry Forms: Entry forms may be filled out online at www.poynter.org/asne2006, then printed out and sent in with the items you mail. If you cannot complete the form online, you may request a paper copy from ASNE's Suzanne Martin at (703) 453-1124 or scj@asne.org.

• No Fees: There is no entry fee for the competitions.

• Submission: Entries must be postmarked no later than Feb. 1, 2006.

Send articles, photos, and printed entry forms by mail or carrier (not by fax or e-mail) to:

ASNE Awards/Jesse Laventhol Prizes
The Poynter Institute
801 Third Street South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701-4920
Phone: (727) 821-9494

The Poynter Institute handles administrative aspects of the contest.

Questions: Please see Frequently Asked Questions or contact ASNE's Suzanne Martin at (703) 453-1124 or scj@asne.org.