Local Media Award FAQ

Who should apply in this category?

All entries must be produced by a local media outlet and exclusively focused on a local or statewide market. Entries will be accepted from newspapers, magazines, and their websites, as well as nonprofit news organizations. Entries from national media outlets will be accepted in the Investigative and General Reporting Award category. 

Applicants previously eligible for the Data-Driven Storytelling Award should apply in either the Investigative and General Reporting Award or Local Media Award categories.

If I do not meet these criteria, where should I submit?

The Investigative and General Reporting Award category will accept national stories. 

Documentaries and podcasts will be accepted in the Television and Audio Journalism Award category if they aired on the web in affiliation with a television or radio news organization, or through an online streaming platform.

How does the awards entry system work?

Our awards system allows you to draft, edit, submit and monitor the status of your entries. You can log into the system and edit your draft application(s) as many times as necessary. Once applications are submitted, they can no longer be edited. Be sure to click submit before the deadline. After the deadline, the awards entry system will be closed to new submissions. 

Please contact Mikayla Thompson at mthompson@nihcm.org if you need technical assistance with your application.

What will I need for the awards entry system?

• Contact information for the entrant and any contributors.
• Basic citation information (i.e., when and where it was published).
• Names of any organizations providing financial support.
• Summaries of the entry's relevance, influence, and unique attributes of local media.
• A static URL for each article (to remain active until after the awards ceremony). If articles are behind a paywall, include a login to access the resources.
• .pdf versions of each submitted article.
• Contributor biographies – a short paragraph for each author is sufficient. Biographies may also be uploaded as a combined .pdf.

Please contact Mikayla Thompson at mthompson@nihcm.org if you are unable to submit any required documents.

What is an entry?

An entry can be either a series or an individual piece of work.

How many articles may be uploaded in a single series application?

If part of a series, we allow for up to 8 entry items to be entered in a single application. Please contact Mikayla Thompson at mthompson@nihcm.org if the submitted series is more than 8 entries.

Who is the entrant and how is the entrant information used?

The entrant is the person completing the form via the online entry system. An entrant can be an awards coordinator, an administrative assistant, or a leading author. This person is responsible for communicating with the NIHCM team and working on behalf of all authors. After the submission is received, NIHCM will interact with the entrant if there are any questions about the submission (such as incomplete information or illegible .pdf documents).

Who is a contributor?

Any co-authors or recognized contributors to the work should be listed. It is common for there to be no co-contributors.

If you need to include more co-contributors, please contact Mikayla Thompson at mthompson@nihcm.org.

What are the best practices for uploading documents?

Online Entry Form Requirements:

• Contributor biographies may be included via .pdf.
• Do not secure or password-protect the .pdf in any way.
• The .pdf extension must use lowercase letters for our system to accept it.
• Use only letters to define the name of the document (our system will not accept special characters such as & ' % #).
• We recommend using Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat to create the .pdf. (Using a program such as Quark, Photoshop, or InDesign to create the .pdf may cause compatibility issues.)
• Use a unique file name for each .pdf uploaded.

General Guidelines for Uploading Files:

• Use a unique file name for each .pdf uploaded.
• Use short but specific names.
• It is not necessary to name the entry or entrant in the .pdf file name. Instead, try to identify the piece specifically, e.g., by date of publication or topic keywords.
• Name your .pdf before uploading as it cannot be changed after uploading.

What are supporting documents?

Some entrants like to include follow-up reporting or additional evidence of the impact of the work. You may include this type of information as a supporting document (.pdf only).

Supporting documentation is not required for entry, and the consideration of these materials is at the discretion of the judges.

How many entries may an individual submit?

For the Local Media Award, an individual will be accepted as the leading author on no more than three (3) applications. Individuals may be listed on additional applications as a co-author or co-contributor.

What happens after an entry is submitted?

After you submit an entry, you will see the entry status on your Submission Dashboard change from "Draft" to "Submitted." You will also receive a confirmation email stating that the entry has been submitted. (The confirmation email will be sent to the entrant's email address.)

Once the application is submitted, you will no longer be able to edit your application. Please contact Mikayla Thompson at mthompson@nihcm.org if you have any questions or concerns.

Is there an entry fee?

No, there is no fee to enter the awards competition.