Entries will open on Wednesday January 4 and will close on January 24. Shortlists will be announced on 17 February and the awards will be presented at a glittering ceremony at the Lancaster London Hotel on March 20.
There will be a total of 33 categories of awards including the splitting up of categories covering features, columns and interviews to reflect the different styles in newspapers and team awards that will be the basis for voting for the Newspaper of the Year that will be chosen by a special panel on achievements during the year across all platforms – print and online.
Staff and freelance journalists can submit entries so long as their work has appeared in a British national newspaper or on its related digital platforms during 2011. It is recommended that entrants should start to collect PDFs of their work now ready for submission on line.
Entries must be made online. A list of categories, full instructions and entry details will be available from 10 December at www.pressawards.org.uk where journalists and their editors can register their intention to submit entries.
The closing date for entries is Tuesday 24 January 2012. A shortlist will be announced on Friday 17 February 2012.
The awards will culminate with the glittering gala dinner at the Lancaster London hotel on Tuesday March 20, 2012. There will be a limited number of guests reflecting the industry’s desire for a more exclusive gathering than in recent years. Further details of the awards dinner will be provided in the New Year.
‘The Press Awards’ are organised on behalf of the industry by the Society of Editors. Proceeds will help to fund the Journalists’ Charity and the Society of Editors’ campaigning for press freedom.
The awards will include the Cudlipp Award, organised by the British Journalism Review that recognises excellence in popular journalism and the Journalists’ Charity’s special award.
The judging process in the most rigorously judged journalism awards involves independent figures from inside and outside the industry and representatives of all the UK national titles.
The judging will be chaired by Society of Editors executive director Bob Satchwell (pictured) who reports regularly to a forum of UK newspaper publishers, chaired by Jonathan Grun of the Press Association and representatives of the Journalists’ Charity and the NPA.
In addition to Camelot which has supported the work of the Society of Editors since 2001, awards sponsors also include Google, Precise, Gorkana and Unison.
The Society of Editors has also announced that the Regional Press Awards that it revived last year will be presented at a ceremony in central London on May 25, 2012. Full details will be announced in January.
