The 2026 SPJ San Diego Area Journalism Contest is open!

The contest recognizes outstanding work by San Diego and Tijuana area students and professional journalists who published or broadcast during the 2025 calendar year.

The contest officially opens on Monday, Feb. 09, 2026.

The Early Bird entry deadline is Monday, March 2, 2026, at 9 p.m. PST. Starting Tuesday, March 3 entry fees will increase. The final deadline is Monday, March 9, 2026, at 9 p.m. PST.

Between March 3 and the final deadline of March 09, at 9 p.m. PST, professionals pay an additional $15 per entry, and students pay an additional $5 per entry, making them $30 for SPJ members, $50 for nonmembers and $10 for students. (NOTE: Top awards have a different entry fee amount.)

Last year, we added a new division: Spanish Media. Spanish entries in select print (daily, non-daily and online combined) and video categories will be judged only against other Spanish language entries. They are not to be entered in any other divisions. Spanish division fees are $10 per entry, regardless of SPJ membership status, until March 2. Starting March 3, the fee will be $20 per entry.  This division is meant to be for work created in Spanish, not Spanish translations of work created in English.

This year’s Distinguished Coverage Award topic is “ICE, Immigration Enforcement and Deportations.” This topic may have been completed by a single reporter or a reporting team at the outlet. The topic includes — but is not limited to — coverage of ICE and deportations, particularly those affecting individuals who show up to their appointments. It can also include how enforcement actions rippled through border communities and major immigration incidents (i.e. protests, courtroom clashes and high-profile ICE raids), etc. Each outlet should submit its best stories, series or show(s). Entries are limited to no more than five components (i.e. stories, segments). Entries must also include an essay of no more than 500 words on why the coverage merits recognition. Open to all outlets. Entry fee is $55. Outlets may make multiple entries if they are by different teams/reporters. 

Submit your entries using the BetterBNC Media Awards platform. 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 in BetterBNC before — either for the SD-SPJ contest or for the SD Press Club Awards — you should already be in the system. You just need to select the 2026 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 and Tijuana area competition. Please stay tuned for additional information to be posted later.

Below are directions for preparing and submitting entries. If you have questions, please contact sdspjcontest@gmail.com.

Good luck!