MIAMI, Florida (November 16, 2012)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today launched its call for entries in its 2013 Excellence in Journalism Award contest. In the competition, which takes place annually, the best of journalism in the Americas vies for top honors. Publications and news agencies in more than 33 nations in the Western Hemisphere enter their best works in English, Spanish or Portuguese in the contest, which has a January 15, 2013 deadline.
The IAPA awards are one of the organization’s emblematic activities. “The process through which journalists of the Americas select the works that are worthy of being entered provides an exceptional opportunity to achieve a balance in terms of journalistic excellence,” commented Francisco Miró Quesada, editor of the Lima, Peru, newspaper El Comercio and chairman of the Awards Committee. “That is why participating in the contest is, from the outset, a sign of a publication’s maturity and quality,” he added.
The adjudication panel will evaluate the entries and choose 10 finalists in each of the 12 categories. The winners will be presented with certificates and cash prizes during the IAPA’s General Assembly next October in São Paul, Brazil. The categories are the following: inter-American relations, human rights, news coverage, features, in-depth reporting, photography, cartoons, infographics, opinion, newspaper in education, online news coverage, and multimedia coverage.
Also awarded is the IAPA Grand Prize for Press Freedom, given to a person or organization with significant achievements on behalf of the cause of freedom of the press. In general, the awards consist of $2,000, plaques and diplomas.
The IAPA is an organization made up of more than 1,300 publications that includes editors, publishers and other professionals that has for more than 60 years been devoted to defending and enhancing press freedom in the Western Hemisphere.
The call for entries and contest rules are posted on the IAPA’s Web site, www.sipiapa.com. To participate it is not necessary to belong to the IAPA.
Direct access: http://www.sipiapa.org/awards