🏆 Now accepting nominations for the 2024 Excellence in NJ Local News Awards (deadline passed)

Let’s see what you’ve been working on this year!

We are excited to announce that the Center for Cooperative Media is now accepting submissions and nominations for the 2024 Excellence in NJ Local News Awards!

Last year, we were thrilled to honor some of the top local news organizations and journalists in the state of New Jersey. This year, we are looking forward to recognizing even more outstanding work in local journalism.

The Excellence in NJ Local News Awards were created to recognize the important role that local news organizations play in their communities. These awards are an opportunity to celebrate the journalists and organizations that are doing exceptional work to inform and engage their readers and viewers.

🏆 Here’s how it works:

In previous years, we gave out awards in the following seven categories: engagement, investigative reporting, collaboration, journalism innovation, business sustainability, campus reporting, high school journalism, and overall journalistic excellence (partner of the year).

In recent years, we switched things up and decided, after much deliberation, to do away with specific categories and instead accept submissions on a much more broad, open basis. We’re doing that again this year.

🧾 What does this mean for the submission process?

It means we just want you to submit your best work, your most challenging endeavor, or any project you worked on over the last year that you’re proud of and tell us why you think it should be recognized — irrespective of any particular category or type of reporting efforts it involved.

Instead of asking you to try and squeeze your work into a specific set of categories, we just want you to tell us, in your own words, what you did and why you think it deserves recognition.

NOTE: You can still describe and justify your submission in traditional journalistic terms (e.g., “this project was a powerful example of local collaborative journalism”) and you can still emphasize the journalistic impact of your project (e.g., “as a result of our reporting, two public officials were forced to resign”) — you just don’t have to identify a particular award category when you submit it.

In addition to the direct nominations we receive, the Center will also proactively seek out examples of excellent local journalism in New Jersey and draw from an internal list of examples we’ve been compiling over the last year. This means you or your publication may be selected to win an award even if you didn’t submit something for consideration.

Last year, we were blown away by the quality of the submissions and nominations that we received. We saw some truly impressive work from journalists and organizations across the state.

🏆 What kind of award will I receive if I win?

Up to 10 winners will all receive the same recognition: a 2024 award for Excellence in Local News. Each winning submission will include an explanation of why it was selected to receive an award.

Each winner will also receive a digital badge that can be placed on the winner’s website and/or print publication, a certificate signed by the Center, and a $100 thank you gift card.

⏲️ How can I apply and what is the deadline?

Click the button below or click here to access the submission form. The deadline for submissions is Friday, February 16, 2024 at 5:00pm ET.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES AND FAQs

☑️ Who is eligible to apply?

• The contest is open to New Jersey news and information providers.
• All reporting entries must focus on local topics related to New Jersey.
• All reporting entries must have been published, broadcast or otherwise disseminated in 2023.
• Work published or broadcast while working as a student or intern is eligible, as long as it was published or broadcast by a New Jersey news and information provider.
• Unpublished manuscripts, classroom exercises and unaired news broadcasts do not qualify. Any work found to be unpublished, unaired or a classroom exercise will be disqualified. A classroom exercise is defined as work assigned for a grade or fulfillment of a course requirement and is not eligible for a Excellence in Local News award unless it was also published outside of class in the campus/local newspaper, campus/local broadcast stations or website.

📋 Other general submission rules:

• Entries that are incomplete will be disqualified.
• Material submitted will not be returned.
• Winning entries will be referenced and linked from the Center for Cooperative Media’s website and other digital properties for publicity, educational or other purposes.
• If it is not readily apparent, please mark the date of publication or broadcast on all items submitted.
• Be sure the name of each journalist who worked on the entry is listed as a collaborator on the entry form and that their names are spelled correctly.
• A maximum of four people can be named on a single team entry. Otherwise, the entry should be submitted in the name of the newspaper, magazine, station, or online news site.
• Scripts for broadcast entries are optional but recommended.

If you have any additional questions, comments or concerns, please send an email to info@centerforcooperativemedia.org.

We are looking forward to seeing the impressive work that local news organizations and journalists in New Jersey have been doing. Thank you for your commitment to excellence in local journalism!

Joe Amditis is the assistant director of products and events at the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University. Contact him at amditisj@montclair.edu or on Twitter at @jsamditis.

About the Center for Cooperative Media: The Center is a primarily grant-funded program of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. Its mission is to grow and strengthen local journalism and support an informed society in New Jersey and beyond. The Center is supported with funding from Montclair State University, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Democracy Fund, the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium, the Independence Public Media Foundation, Rita Allen Foundation, Inasmuch Foundation and John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. For more information, visit centerforcooperativemedia.org.