AAR Journalism Awards

About

The American Academy of Religion honors the best in-depth reporting on religion through our Journalism Awards, a program of the AAR’s Committee on the Public Understanding of Religion.

Awards are given in the following two categories:

• Best In-Depth Newswriting
• Best In-Depth Multimedia Journalism

View past winners

Eligibility

• Membership in the American Academy of Religion is not required.
• Applicants may only submit to one of the two award categories in any given year.
• Reporting must have been published during the previous calendar year, January 1 through December 31.
• Applicants must be the lead contributor on all submissions: multiple bylines or credits are acceptable, provided that the contestant identifies the multi-authored submission, and demonstrates that they did most of the reporting.
• Eligible submissions should adhere to journalist standards of editorial independence.
• Non-English language reporting is acceptable if translated into English. Copies of the original reporting must be included with the submission.
• Reporting as part of a series is acceptable.

Criteria

Best In-Depth Newswriting

• Written news articles, columns, editorials, and other reporting in any published medium of any audience/market size.
• Up to three (3) submissions are accepted per entry.

Best In-Depth Multimedia Journalism

• Broadcast, radio, podcast, interactives, or other multimedia news media distributed for any audience or market size.
• Submissions include religion reporting that utilizes audio, visual, or other digital technologies to tell stories about religion.
• News commentary or opinion is not eligible.
• Up to three (3) submission packages are accepted per entry, each defined as a single act of reporting inclusive of print and media files.
• The total of the three (3) packages is not to exceed 60 minutes.

Submission Instructions

Complete a nomination form and upload submission materials
The nomination materials required for each of the award categories must be submitted as follows:

• Best In-Depth Newswriting: Entries must be submitted as a single PDF file.
• Best In-Depth Multimedia Journalism: Entries must be submitted using stable URLs.

Nomination items must not be behind paywalls.

Late, emailed, or incomplete nomination forms or materials cannot be accepted.

Selection Process

Each award is evaluated by a jury of two current or former journalists, and a member of the AAR’s Committee on the Public Understanding of Religion, who serves as chair of both juries.

For each award, winners are determined by jury consensus.

The juries will confer awards only when the nominations received are of high quality. Reporting for the general public is preferred.

Both juries will use a five-point scale (excellent, very good, good, fair, poor) to evaluate the following criteria:

1. Reporting should consist of a historical, explanatory, or contextual approach to the subject matter while integrating a depth and breadth of academic research or scholars as sources.
2. The reporting, which may address any topic should advance the understanding of religious issues in the public sphere.
3. It should communicate effectively to various publics either across traditions or broadly within a single tradition.
4. It should represent exemplary use of the medium’s tools to advance the public understanding of religion.
5. In alignment with the American Academy of Religion’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, submissions will also be evaluated on their reflection of these values in content, authorship, and audience.

Award winners are typically announced in May.

Questions

For questions, please contact awards@aarweb.org.