Submission Rules

1. The competition will open for entries on 16 January 2025.
2. The deadline for entries is 31 March 2025. No late entries will be accepted.
3. Entrants should submit one entry per category. Each entry must consist of two pieces of original, published or broadcast journalistic works in print, online radio/audio or and TV/video news.
   For TV and radio entries, the submissions must include the recording of the news story and transcriptions.
   All submitted news stories must have been published or broadcast between 1 January and 31 December 2024.
4. An entry submitted for one category cannot be re-submitted in another or different category of the competition.
5. Entrants cannot enter in more than three categories of the competition.
6. Entries can be in the language that a media house reports its news. Organisers of the competition will arrange translations for non-English entries.
7. Stories for the category awards shall be defined as follows:
• A newspaper or magazine news article
• A television or video news report
• A radio or podcast news report
• An online news article
8. Each submitted news story must include a motivation of 400 words. The motivation should explain the relevance of the story and why you have submitted the article. It should also highlight the relevance of the story in line with the criteria, i.e., news value, impact, rigour in reporting, analytical value, originality, integrity, specialist knowledge and storytelling (refer to the ‘criteria’ section for detail).
9. Each entry (two stories) must be submitted individually.
10. The independent judging panel reserves the right to exercise discretion and allocate an entry to what they deem to be the relevant category.
11. Entries with multiple authors or bylines are restricted to two writers/reporters and must include written consent of the co-author and the editor.
12. An entry that is a serialised feature article will be considered if the submission adheres to the criteria for submitting a single entry, i.e., two pieces of journalistic work (NB: See point 3 under submission rules).
13. Print and online articles must be submitted as a single file in PDF format.
14. Print and online articles should be in a legible font size. For example, a broadsheet article reduced to fit onto a A3 or A4 PDF will not be acceptable as news story would become illegible. Entrants are requested to give this due consideration before submitting their entries.
15. For online stories, an active URL should be provided for the story, audio podcasts or online videos. If the content sits behind a paywall or requires subscription access, it is the responsibility of the entrant to submit copies of the relevant online article/broadcast news report
16. Broadcast entries for video or audio material must be in MP4 format and sent via WeTransfer to Sumayah.booysen@sanlam.co.za.
Broadcast entries must include transcripts of the submitted story and a synopsis about each broadcast/recorded news story.
17. Unpublished news stories/reports will not be accepted.
18. Entries submitted under pseudonyms will not be accepted.
19. Submitted entries will not be returned.