Excellence in Journalism Award Criteria

Entrants must indicate which of these two categories they represent.

1. LARGE OR NATIONAL MEDIA
Entrants in this category include:
a. Newspaper - daily circulation more than 100,000
b. Magazines - paid circulation more than 150,000
c. National Broadcast
d. Online Journalism - more than 500,000 unique visitors per month. Must have original content and a distinctive editorial voice.

2. SMALL/MEDIUM OR LOCAL MEDIA
Entrants in this category include:
a. Newspaper - daily circulation less than100,000
b. Magazines - paid circulation less than 150,000
c. Local or Regional Broadcast
d. Online Journalism - less than 500,000 unique visitors per month. Must have original content and a distinctive editorial voice.

The submission should answer the following questions. Consideration is given to responses in ALL categories:

1. ACCURACY / SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY / ACCOUNTABILITY

• What mechanisms does your organization have in place to ensure accuracy and fairness? How do you acknowledge errors?
• How does your organization balance the right to privacy and the right to know? What are your policies and how are they articulated to staff? How has your organization maximized audience engagement?

2. ORIGINALITY / COURAGE / INDEPENDENCE

• How does your organization foster creativity, innovation and risk-taking? How has your organization shown courage and independence in the past year?
• Does your organization regularly commit extra resources over a long period of time to the pursuit of a story? Did you break away from the pack to explore important territory that others had missed, perhaps using non-traditional methods?

3. DIVERSITY

• What special effort has your organization made to ensure that a diversity of voices, faces and ideas in your coverage accurately reflects Canadian life?

4. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT / OPPORTUNITIES

• What special measures have you taken to make your newsroom a challenging, exciting and rewarding place for journalists in order to inspire excellence in journalism?