The Sigma Delta Chi Awards are presented annually by the

Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, letter ...

(SPJ) (formerly Sigma Delta Chi) for excellence in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

. The SPJ states the purpose of the award is to promote "the free flow of information vital to a well-informed

citizenry Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

History

The awards program began in 1939. The SPJ first awarded the Distinguished Service Awards. These awards later became the Sigma Delta Chi Awards. Prior to the creation of the awards program, the society first chose six individuals for their contributions to journalism in 1932.

Entry requirements

A fee is collected from each entry. Since 2007, the fee for members of the Society of Professional Journalists was $60, $100 for non-members. All entries must be accompanied by three copies of the entry form. In addition each entry must include a cover letter that includes a summary of the story or stories, a discussion of the major findings and results, a review of the process followed to get the story and an account of the difficulty or uniqueness of effort in obtaining the story. The 2012 contest judged more than 1,700 entries.

Judging criteria

Materials are judged by a panel of distinguished, veteran journalists. For each category one award is issued and judges may withhold an award if they deem no entry worthy. Entries are judged on readability, effectiveness of interpretation,

accuracy Accuracy and precision are two measures of ''observational error''. ''Accuracy'' is how close a given set of measurements ( observations or readings) are to their ''true value'', while ''precision'' is how close the measurements are to each oth ...

and completeness, enterprise, clarity and

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

, resourcefulness of the reporter in overcoming obstacles, interest and adherence to the SPJ Code of Ethics.

Award categories

The 48 categories are assigned according to publication type or the type of work in journalism. There are awards for

newspapers A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports ...

and

wire services A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire, ...

magazines A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combination ...

, arts and graphics,

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

newsletters A newsletter is a printed or electronic report containing news concerning the activities of a business or an organization that is sent to its members, customers, employees or other subscribers. Newsletters generally contain one main topic of in ...

research Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular att ...

and online reporting.

References

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External links