Excellence in Journalism Awards 2026
Only journalistic pieces actually published during the period between June 1st, 2025 and May 31, 2026 in a daily newspaper, weekly, magazine, press agency, online publication or radio and television stations will be considered as contestants. The closing date for receipt of nominations is May 31, 2026.
A jury composed of members of the IAPA Awards Committee will select the winner in each category. The majority of the first prizes in each category will be awarded U$S 2,000 (two thousand U.S. dollars). The award ceremony will be held in October 2026 during the 82nd IAPA General Assembly in Bogota, Colombia.
The IAPA will award the Grand Prize for Press Freedom to an individual or organization with significant achievements in favor of this cause.
To participate it is not necessary to be a member of IAPA; just click here.
The 13categories of the SIP Excellence in Journalism 2026 Awards are:
- Migration Journalism Claudio Paolillo (sponsored by La Silla Rota, Mexico).
- Illustration and Infographic (sponsored by El Tiempo, Bogotá, Colombia).
- News coverage of current events (sponsored by Infobae).
- Interview Alejandro Miró Quesada Garland (sponsored by El Comercio, Lima, Peru).
- Chronicle (sponsored by Debate Media, Mexico).
- Photography (sponsored by La Prensa Gráfica, San Salvador, El Salvador).
- Video (sponsored by Fundación Carlos Freire, Riobamba, Ecuador).
- Opinion (sponsored by El Mercurio, Santiago, Chile).
- Data Journalism (sponsored by Grupo de Comunicaciones Corripio, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic).
- In-depth Journalism (sponsored by Clarín, Buenos Aires, Argentina).
- Environmental Journalism Roberto Eisenmann Jr. (sponsored by La Prensa, Panama City, Panama).
- College Journalism (sponsored by the Latin American Council for the Accreditation of Education in Journalism and Communication CLAEP).
- Podcast (sponsored by Agence France Presse AFP).
- Inter American Journalism With An Equality Perspective (sponsored by the Inter-American Commission of Women).
IAPA JOURNALISTIC EXCELLENCE CONTEST
WHY PARTICIPATE?
Participating in an international journalistic contest has numerous advantages -beyond the gratification of the prize-, since it allows:
- To make a self-evaluation, in quantity and quality, of the work done during the year.
- To compare experiences, approaches, techniques and styles with other colleagues from the same media and from other publications around the world.
- To make known the best of the professional practice.
Submitting a work to the judgment of a Jury involves asking oneself the following questions:
Does my work possess sufficient quality, in form and content, to be measured in an international competition?
Is it sufficiently original, relevant and useful to stand out among more than a thousand journalistic works?
Does it fully comply with the parameters established by the Jury for the chosen category?
If your answers are affirmative, we welcome you to the IAPA's EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM CONTEST.
OF THE CATEGORIES
The categories of the contest refer to journalistic genres as well as to themes that have been considered convenient to emphasize. Those referring to genres are of free subject matter. Entries may be submitted in only one category. A contestant may submit entries in up to three categories, but may not submit more than one entry per category.
The following is an explanation of the meaning of each category and the respective parameters established by the Jury.
Claudio Paolillo Migration Journalism (sponsored by La Silla Rota, Mexico)
Description: Coverage of migration issues including causes and consequences of the flow of people. The Jury will consider works that stand out for their newsworthiness, argumentation, balance, use of sources and complementary material.
Illustration and Infographic (sponsored by El Tiempo, Bogota, Colombia)
Description: Focused on graphic pieces or illustrations that explain or synthesize current affairs through visual resources, with special emphasis on originality, design, aesthetic value, and the journalistic power of synthesis.
News coverage of current affairs (sponsored by Infobae)
Description: It is news coverage of current events, including all types of graphic and audiovisual resources. The Jury will consider works that stand out for their newsworthiness, argumentation, balance, use of sources, complementary material and multimedia.
Interview Alejandro Miró Quesada Garland (sponsored by El Comercio, Lima, Peru)
Description: Dialogue that allows for an in-depth look at the personality and environment of the interviewee and highlights his or her opinions on newsworthy issues. The Jury will consider works that stand out for the relevance of the character, the timeliness of his or her comments and the interviewer's skill in obtaining them.
Photography (sponsored by La Prensa Gráfica, San Salvador, El Salvador)
Description: Still images on issues of social impact. The Jury will consider those photographic reports that stand out for their timeliness, originality, aesthetic and journalistic value.
Video
Description: Moving images on issues of social impact. The Jury will consider those video reports that stand out for their timeliness, originality, aesthetic and journalistic value.
Opinion (sponsored by El Mercurio, Santiago, Chile)
Description: Opinion columns on issues of social impact. The Jury will consider works that stand out for the strength of their argumentation, timeliness, relevance and style.
Data Journalism (sponsored by Grupo de Comunicaciones Corripio, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic)
Description: It is the exhibition of data based on journalistic research, using all possible artistic means. The Jury will consider proposals with aesthetic, journalistic and didactic value that stand out for their combined use of texts, photographs, videos and animated graphics based on rigorous journalistic research.
In-depth Journalism (sponsored by La República, Lima, Peru) Description: Investigative journalism on issues of social importance. The Jury will consider works that stand out for their use of investigative and analytical techniques, live and documentary sources and field work.
Environmental Journalism Roberto Eisenmann Jr. (sponsored by La Prensa, Panama City, Panama). Description: Coverage of environmental issues that denounce harmful actions or reflect measures for their preservation and care. The Jury will consider works that stand out for their newsworthiness, argumentation, balance, use of sources, complementary material and multimedia, if that is the case.
College Journalism (sponsored by CLAEP)
Description: Report with a free theme that has been published in university media. The Jury will consider works that stand out in the handling of the reportage genre, whose essential characteristics are topicality, varied use of sources and data, photographs, interviews and documents, in which skills learned during the career can be observed.
There is a group of categories, outside of journalistic content, relevant to the sustainability of a media outlet, its adaptability to changes in the field of technology and marketing, the leadership of its executives, as well as institutions that support the mission of the press. These are:
Podcast (sponsored by the AFP news agency).
Description: High-quality journalistic productions of up to 20 minutes in podcast format that develop informative, investigative, or narrative content of public interest, with an emphasis on fact-checking, editorial quality, and the creative and appropriate use of sound language as a journalistic tool. The Jury will consider works that stand out for the clarity and coherence of the script, the relevant use of sources and testimonies, the contextualization of the topic addressed, and the responsible treatment of the people and events portrayed. The narrative and technical quality of the audio will also be valued, as well as the format’s capacity to deepen, explain, or provide new and diverse perspectives on the issues covered.
Inter- American Journalism With An Equality Perspective (sponsored by the Inter-American Commission of Women).
Description: Recognizes journalistic works (in written, audiovisual, data-driven, or multimedia formats) that, with rigorous reporting, an ethical approach, and an equality perspective, investigate, explain, and narrate both situations of inequality, discrimination, or exclusion affecting women, as well as initiatives, policies, practices, and experiences that are generating verifiable progress toward equality. The Jury will place special value on the ability to avoid stigmatizing perspectives, to portray women as rights-holders and agents of change, and to offer a contextualized understanding of the facts; on the strength of the investigation; the systematic use of diverse sources and verifiable data; appropriate historical and social contextualization; and the clarity of the analytical approach and narrative quality.
The Jury will also consider the work’s ability to identify concrete impacts, institutional responsibilities, relevant social consequences, and, when applicable, good practices, lessons learned, and pathways for transformation that contribute to strengthening equality.
RULES AND REGULATIONS:
The contest is usually open for works published between June 1st, 2025 and May 31, 2026 of the current year in print media -daily, weekly or magazine-, digital native media and online publications of radio and television stations. Nominations must be received before June 1st, 2026.
- Written, radio or television works are accepted on any platform; independently or in series.
- Certain types of works are not accepted, including theses, dissertations, essays, books, magazines with special themes or extraordinary journalistic projects.
- In the case of audiovisual and radio recordings, only works between 10 and 20 minutes in length will be accepted.
- The same work may only be entered in one category, otherwise it will be disqualified.
- It is possible to compete with different works in up to three categories.
- In serial works, only the first and last installment will be accepted, plus three others at the discretion of the contestants. The number of articles in the series must be mentioned.
- Only works that have actually been published during the dates specified in the Call for Papers may be submitted.
OF THE FORM
The form is designed to be as simple as possible, so that it can be completed in a minimum of 15 minutes, provided that the requested data and files are located and ready to be uploaded.
- In the case of photography, cartoons or infographics, the work may be sent in any format available for images. The submission must contain, in addition to the image, the page of the newspaper where it was published.
- In the case of videos or audio recordings, the entry must have been published on the station's website. The corresponding link will be placed inside a Word document.
- No information other than that requested on the form will be accepted; amendments are also not acceptable. In case of error or incomplete information, a new form must be completed.
- It is recommended to take into account the "weight" of the documents, which should not exceed 10 MB.
- The contestant must make sure that all links to his or her entries are current, so that the Jury can have free access to them.
OF THE MOST FREQUENT ERRORS
GENERAL TYPE: Ignoring the Regulations
OF THE FORM:
There is no documentary category, although videos with a journalistic approach are admitted. In this case, as in the case of audio recordings, the entry must have been published on the media or station's website. The corresponding link will be placed within a Word document.
A video/audio may not exceed 20 minutes.
