We’re currently seeking candidates interested in running for a seat on our chapter’s board!

Our board works on…

• Advocating for press and government transparency
• Planning and executing events for local journalists, including our annual awards banquet
• Student journalism outreach
• Supporting job-seekers
• Honoring the work of local journalists
• And much more!

We meet on the first Tuesday of every month in the evening. If you’re an SPJ member, you’re eligible to run.

If you’d like to run for the board, please submit your candidacy statement, including any biographical information you would like to share (200-word limit) by 5 p.m. on Friday, June 7 to spjsandiego@gmail.com. 

Election results will be announced by early July. Need to renew your membership? Click here.

There’s nothing like an outdoor event in June in San Diego — the sunset, the weather, the summer vibes. Come join us on Thursday, June 27, for our annual awards dinner and celebration. We’re heading back to Stone Brewing in Liberty Station for a fun, relaxed outdoor gathering, full of good food and drink in the company of your favorite journalists. 

Early bird tickets (through June 14) are $60 for SPJ members and $70 for nonmembers and include a tasty food spread and dessert. Tickets will go up to $70 for SPJ members and $80 for nonmembers starting June 15, so buy early to save money. Online ticket sales will close on June 20 and no tickets can be purchased after that date or at the event. Drink tokens, available in advance and sold at the event are $6 for craft sodas and $10 for a beer, wine or hard seltzer.

Buy your tickets now!

The evening will include a short program when we’ll announce the winners of our special awards and honor our Journalist of the Year — Lisa Halverstadt from Voice of San Diego.

As in past years, first-place winners will receive a plaque and second and third-place winners will receive a certificate. You can pick up your awards at the conclusion of the event.

The 2024 SPJ San Diego Area Journalism Competition recognizes outstanding work by San Diego-area student and professional journalists published or broadcast during the 2023 calendar year. Entries will be accepted beginning Monday, Feb. 12, through Monday, March 11, at 9 p.m. PST.

Entries submitted by 9 p.m. PST Monday, March 4, will get our early bird rate. Please see “Contest Guidelines and Categories” for entry costs.

This year’s Distinguished Coverage Award topic is “barriers.” This may include a story or series of stories completed by a single reporter or a reporting team. The topic includes, but is not limited to: real or perceived barriers, such as physical walls, public officials putting up barriers to reporting, stories about barriers people face in finding employment, accessing health care or education, financial barriers, etc. Each outlet that produced reporting related to this topic should submit its best story, series, or segment, along with an essay of no more than 500 words on why the coverage merits recognition.

Submit your entries using the BetterBNC Media Awards platform — we’ve added several new categories this year that we hope will offer more journalists the chance to have their work honored. To register or enter the contest, open a new browser window or tab to http://www.betterbnc.com. Keep this window open to refer to as you submit your awards.

If you have entered awards via BetterBNC before — either for the SD-SPJ competition or for the SD Press Club awards — you should already be in the system, and you just need to select the 2024 SPJ awards contest.

All contest entries must be submitted online via BetterBNC and must be entered by or on behalf of the individual(s) who produced the work and must identify each individual involved in producing the work.

Students: This year’s scholarship contest will be run separately from the San Diego Area Journalism Competition. Please stay tuned for additional information to be posted later this week. 

Below are directions for preparing and submitting entries. If you have questions, please contact Wendy Fry at 619-395-8440 or wendyreports@gmail.com.

Best of luck to all of our applicants! And stay tuned for news about this year’s awards celebration!

How to Enter
Contest Guidelines and Categories 2024
FAQs 2024