It’s time!!!
The San Diego Area Journalism Contest is now open!
The contest recognizes outstanding work by San Diego and Tijuana area students and professional journalists who published or broadcast during the 2024 calendar year.
The contest officially opens on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025.
Early Bird Contest entries will be accepted until Monday, March 3, at 9 p.m. PST. Entry fees are per entry, regardless of the number of journalists on the entry. SPJ San Diego Pro Chapter members pay $15 per entry, non-members pay $35 per entry, and students pay $5 until March 3.
Between March 4 and the final deadline of Monday, March 10, 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.)
This year, we’ve 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.
This year’s Distinguished Coverage Award topic is “infrastructure challenges in the face of climate change.” This topic may have been completed by a single reporter or a reporting team at the outlet. The topic can include but isn’t limited to — the environmental impacts on San Diego, such as the January 2024 floods, coastal erosion, wildfires, 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 2025 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!
San Diego Society of Professional Journalists 