How to Enter |
Eligibility
Entries can come from:
An eligible entry must have aired between Feb 1, 2021 and January 31, 2023.
Entries are not required to be about specific candidates, political campaigns or elections. As long as their focus is disinformation and democratic norms, they may be pegged to a range of topics, e.g., vaccination conspiracies, racial antagonism, gun ownership. Or they may be about process, e.g., manipulation methods, media platforms, financing. Entries may also have a non-US focus, like Russia’s anti-Ukraine propaganda.
- individual journalists
- individual programs
- news specials
- local for-profit stations or local public stations, in markets of any size
- station ownership groups
- national networks:
- for-profit or public
- broadcast, cable or streaming
- online-original video news sites
- Apprentice and emerging journalists in programs like Report for America are eligible to enter.
- For the first time, the Cronkite Awards are open to entries produced by student journalists. To be eligible, students must be enrolled in an academic journalism program. They can be full- or part-time; high school, undergraduate or graduate students. Student, apprentice, and emerging journalist entries will be considered by judges as a group.
An eligible entry must have aired between Feb 1, 2021 and January 31, 2023.
Entries are not required to be about specific candidates, political campaigns or elections. As long as their focus is disinformation and democratic norms, they may be pegged to a range of topics, e.g., vaccination conspiracies, racial antagonism, gun ownership. Or they may be about process, e.g., manipulation methods, media platforms, financing. Entries may also have a non-US focus, like Russia’s anti-Ukraine propaganda.
Selection Process
There is a fee of $50 per entry (the fee will be waived for students and for apprentice and emerging journalists).
Entrants should submit a reel of no more than 30 minutes in length. Compilations, bumpers or other interstitial material produced for the entry reel are acceptable but not required. If a reel longer than 30 minutes is submitted, it is possible that only the first 30 minutes will be screened. The entry form accompanying the reel requests a brief narrative describing the reel’s content; the context it is excerpted from; its reception and impact, if relevant; and other information you may wish to describe, like production details, collateral material and cross-platform content. Entries will be reviewed and scored by a panel of screeners — USC Annenberg faculty, alumni and affiliates with extensive journalism experience. Based on screener recommendations, a shortlist of entrants will be reviewed by a jury of USC Annenberg faculty, alumni and affiliates. The number and categories of prizes will be determined by the judges, based on the entries submitted and shortlisted. |
TimelineAirdate cutoff: January 31, 2023
Entry deadline: February 22, 2023* *(Deadline extended to March 1st, 2023) Winners announced: April, 2023 |
The 2023 Brooks Jackson Prize for Fact-Checking
Eligible Cronkite Award submissions are also eligible for the 2023 Brooks Jackson Prize for Fact-Checking if they demonstrate how fact-checking can be institutionalized within the format of a program or the news schedule of a station. Jackson eligible reels will show that:
The Cronkite entry form offers an opportunity to flag a submission’s eligibility for the Jackson Prize. Entries will be reviewed by a separate jury at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center. Winner(s) may be local, national or both.
- Fact-checking is not a one-off. Instead, fact-checking segments recur, and they are characterized or featured as fact-checking.
- Fact-checking is a beat, identified with a particular correspondent (or team of two).
The Cronkite entry form offers an opportunity to flag a submission’s eligibility for the Jackson Prize. Entries will be reviewed by a separate jury at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center. Winner(s) may be local, national or both.