Submissions are now being accepted for the 15TH annual John Jay College of Criminal Justice/Harry Frank Guggenheim Awards for Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting.
The prizes have been awarded annually since 2005 in two categories (Best Single Story and Best Series) for work published or posted in U.S. print, magazine and online media that has had a significant impact on criminal justice debate and policy.
The prestigious $1,500 awards, unofficially called the “Pulitzers” of crime and justice journalism, are the only national journalism awards of their type, and are formally presented at a special dinner during the John Jay/Harry Frank Guggenheim Symposium on Crime in America.
The annual awards, sponsored by the nation’s pre-eminent academic institution on criminal justice, honor investigative, feature, analytical, and enterprise journalism on criminal justice and related issues.
The 2020 awards will be presented in conjunction with the John Jay/Harry F. Guggenheim Annual Symposium on Crime in America scheduled February 20, 2020. The awards are administered by the Center on Media, Crime and Justice at John Jay, and judged by a panel of leading journalists and educators.
You can submit entries here. But please first read information about the prize below.
ELIGIBILITY: To be eligible for the prize, work must be published in a newspaper, magazine or online news outlet in the U.S. (broadcast work is eligible if it contains a significant online dimension) between November 1, 2018 and October 31, 2019.
CRITERIA: The awards honor enterprise, analytical and investigative reporting work that has had a demonstrated impact on public understanding or public policy (local or national) in any area related to criminal justice. Spot news stories may qualify if they advance the above criteria. Each submission can only be entered in one category, but multiple submissions from the same news outlets are accepted. All submissions must include a nominating letter from a supervising editor providing details that can help the judges assess the impact and significance of the work.
DEADLINE: November 12, 2019 11:59 pm EST
COST OF ENTRY: $75 per submission.
The annual prizes are supported by a grant from the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation.
For questions about the prize, please contact Prize Administrator Wren Longno at wlongno@gmail.com, or Ricardo Martinez at: rmartinez@jjay.cuny.edu , 646.557.4690; or Stephen Handelman at: shandelman@jjay.cuny.edu
PAST PRIZEWINNERS
2019 Winners: Type Investigations and Pro Publica
2018 Winners: Miami Herald and Chicago Reader
View photos of the 2018 Trailblazer and Prize dinner here
2017 Winners ProPublica and Mother Jones
2016 Winners The Marshall Project and the Belleville News-Democrat
2015 Winners The New Yorker and the Post and Courier (Charleston)
2014 Winners The (Sarasota) Herald Tribune and the South Florida Sun Sentinel
2013 Winners The Times-Picayune and Mother Jones
2012 Winners The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and Mother Jones
2011 Winners New York Magazine and The Philadelphia Inquirer
2010 Winners The Belleville News Democrat and the Austin Chronicle
2009 Winners The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The Times Herald-Record
2008 Winners The Denver Post and The Wall Street Journal
2007 Winners The San Jose Mercury and The Sacramento Bee
2006 Winners The Rocky Mountain News and the Boston Phoenix
THE JUSTICE TRAILBLAZER
Since 2013, The Crime Report in collaboration with the Center on Media, Crime and Justice at John Jay College has honored individuals from the media and related fields who have expanded public awareness about the challenges and complexities of criminal justice.
The 2018 Trailblazer was Bill Moyers.
Past winners have included David Simon, creator of “The Wire” (2013); Piper Kerman, author of Orange is the New Black (2014); Maria Hinojosa, PBS host and founder of Futuro Media (2015); and Jelani Cobb (2016), New Yorker writer and director of the Institute for African American Studies at the University of Connecticut; Van Jones. of CNN.