Rules for Entry

Updated Oct. 23, 2023

General

• All entries must have been published or broadcast for the first time during the 2023 calendar year. By entering this contest, you are confirming that the entries represent the stories as originally published or aired.
• Entries originally published in languages other than English are allowed. Applicants must upload an accurate translation, along with a letter from the news outlet certifying the translation’s accuracy and the name and contact information of the translator.
• Cover letters accompanying entries are optional, but highly recommended. Cover letters must not exceed one page, with 12-pt font. You can upload a cover letter as a PDF along with your entry. 
• All entries must be submitted online through the contest awards website, found here. 
• Payment must be submitted online by credit card in the amount of the total entry fee to be judged and must be received by the deadline for an entry to be considered.
• Judges and AHCJ staff may disqualify any entry that does not adhere to the rules and may move entries among categories or to the appropriate size division without notifying entrants.
• If a category attracts fewer than 10 entries, AHCJ reserves the right to not award a prize that contest year. In such a case, entry fees will be refunded.
• AHCJ may maintain copies of all entries. Entries may be used in group newsletters, journals, compilations or other educational efforts. They also may appear on AHCJ’s website.

Eligibility rules

• AHCJ board members, employees and members of the contest committee are not eligible to enter and may not serve as judges.  
• Contest judges are allowed to enter the contest, but will not be allowed to serve as judges in the categories they entered. 
• Work that was edited or produced by an AHCJ board or contest committee member may be entered in the contest, but the board member or committee member may not be involved in selecting works to be entered or in preparing the entry, and they may not share in any prizes. 
• Student category: Entries must have been produced by students in high school, undergraduate or graduate programs for a class, a student-led publication, or a university-based outlet. If a story was later published or broadcast by a professional outlet, the work should first have been conceived and reported as part of a class, a student-led publication, or a university-based outlet. Students who produced work for a professional outlet as a freelancer, intern or employee should enter work produced while in that role in the other contest categories. 
• The Trade category is not for publications or websites aimed at general interest audiences. Trade outlets are defined as publications catering exclusively or primarily to specific groups, such as healthcare professionals, advocacy groups or organizations. Joint collaborations between trade and other types of publications cannot be entered in the Trade category.  

Rules on number and types of submissions 

• Number of entrants:
  • A maximum of three individuals may be named on the entry. 
  • If there are more than three significant contributors to the work, the entry should be submitted in the name of the news organization or collaborating outlets.  

• Number of stories per entry:
  • Generally, only one main story per entry is allowed. 
  • For series, up to five articles from the series may be submitted to a category. (Audio or video series should not exceed 60 minutes.) For a submission to be considered a series, it must be clear to the judges that the stories are on the same topic, institution or person. A cover letter explaining more about the series is highly recommended.
  • In the Trade category, only individual stories should be submitted. Entire newsletters or publications are not eligible for submission. 
  • Audio Reporting: find more information about the number of stories per entry and other requirements below.

• Rules for entering in multiple categories:
  • A specific article or series cannot be entered twice, in different categories; it can only be submitted once to a chosen category. 
  • The exception: If you’re entering the Beat Reporting category, you may also submit individual pieces that you’ve submitted as part of the portfolio for that category, in other categories.
  • Audio stories may be entered in any category. But a story submitted to the Audio Reporting category may not be submitted again for another category — except if submitting as part of a portfolio in the Beat Reporting category.
  • Entrants may submit more than one entry to a category, but each entry will be counted as a separate submission and require an additional contest fee. 

• Collaborations between multiple outlets:
  • If two organizations collaborated on a story or project, they should coordinate their entry so that only one version of that entry is received. 
  • Please see outlet-size rules below to determine whether a collaborative entry should be submitted in the Large or Small size division. 

• Audio Reporting requirements:
  • Audio entries should be uploaded in .MP3 or .WAV format.
  • Submit by uploading a single audio file containing 1-5 audio pieces. The combined length of all pieces cannot exceed 30 minutes. AHCJ reserves the right to truncate audio files at the 30-minute mark before sending them to judges for review.
  • Audio pieces may only be edited for time (for example, you may submit a select portion of a longer podcast episode, so as not to exceed the 30-minute limit) or to remove breaks (commercials, underwriting, station identification or newscasts) in a longer story, interview, or podcast episode.
  • If you made edits to your entry, please explain in a cover letter any such edits you have made, and why.  (EXAMPLE: Explain that you are submitting a 20-minute portion of a 40-minute podcast)
  • Please insert a brief silence (3 seconds) between audio pieces in the audio file,  as a placeholder to indicate where audio was edited for time or to remove breaks.
  • No other kinds of edits may be made. Submitted audio should be otherwise “as heard” on the original broadcast or podcast episode release.
  • Voice-overs or narratives are permitted only if they were part of the original piece.
  • In addition to uploading an audio file, entrants may provide links to web pages housing the original radio stories or podcast episodes that include online text, photos or graphics, but judging for this category will primarily focus on the submitted audio entry.

Size divisions 

New in 2023: The definitions for Large and Small depend on the number of editorial staff and the type of outlet that published or broadcast the entry. To determine the number of editorial staff, please consider the number of full-time equivalents, or FTEs, of the outlet where the story was published (and all collaborating outlets, if applicable.) 

Definition of editorial FTEs: For the purposes of this contest, a news outlet’s editorial staff includes any and all editorial and content-producing roles, including but not limited to: reporters, editors, producers, hosts, anchors, photojournalists, board or camera operators, show or podcast staffers, social media and community engagement staff, and newsroom or programming managers and supervisors.

If an outlet relies on part-time or contract employees, those employees should be included in the FTE count. (A half-time or quarter-time employee would count as 0.5 or 0.25 FTEs, respectively).

Large division:

• Entries published in outlets specializing in health or science, with more than 30 editorial FTEs.
  • OR – Any entry produced in collaboration with, or with editorial input from, an outlet that specializes in health or science, in which the total number of editorial FTEs in all participating outlets exceeds 30.
• Entries published by print or digital outlets (including newspapers, magazines and online-only outlets) with more than 100 editorial FTEs.
  • If an entry published by a print/digital outlet was produced in collaboration with or with editorial input from another outlet, the total number of editorial FTEs in all participating outlets must be counted. If the total number of FTEs exceeds 100, the submission belongs in the Large category.
• Entries produced by broadcast outlets (radio, TV, podcasts, videos) with more than 50 editorial FTEs.
• If an entry published by a broadcast outlet was produced in collaboration with or with editorial input from another outlet, the total number of editorial FTEs in all participating outlets must be counted. If the total number of FTEs exceeds 50, the submission belongs in the Large category.

• Any collaboration between Large and Small outlets.
  • Any piece produced by a freelancer, or person employed by a Small outlet, that received editorial input from or was produced in collaboration with a Large category outlet needs to enter in the Large category even if the entered work appears in an outlet that would otherwise qualify as Small.
• Entrants may choose to default any entry into the Large category.

Small division: 

• Entries published in outlets specializing in health or science, with 30 or fewer editorial FTEs.
  • OR – Any entry produced in collaboration with, or with editorial input from, an outlet that specializes in health or science, in which the total number of editorial FTEs in all participating outlets is 30 or fewer.
• Entries published by print or digital outlets (including newspapers, magazines and online-only outlets) with 100 or fewer editorial FTEs.
  • If an entry published by a print/digital outlet was produced in collaboration with or with editorial input from another outlet, the total number of editorial FTEs in all participating outlets must be counted. If the total number of FTEs is 100 or fewer, the submission belongs in the Small category.
• Entries produced by broadcast outlets (radio, TV, podcasts, videos) with 50 or fewer editorial FTEs.
• If an entry published by a broadcast outlet was produced in collaboration with or with editorial input from another outlet, the total number of editorial FTEs in all participating outlets must be counted. If the total number of FTEs is still 50 or fewer, the submission belongs in the Small category.