The News Awards represent the pinnacle of excellence in journalism at News Limited. They are the highlight of the editorial year at News, and are recognised widely as among the most significant journalism awards in the region.

The News Awards not only showcase the best work of our journalists, photographers, designers and artists, but champion the editorial values and principles that make our newspapers, magazines and websites the most relevant and best-read in their markets.

The Awards are open to all editorial staff on all of News Limited's newspapers, magazines and websites in Australia and the South Pacific.

The judging criteria allow all editorial staff to enter the awards and be judged equally. The judges are current and former editors, representing the full spectrum of our national, metropolitan, regional and community publications.

The Awards culminate in a black tie presentation dinner attended by News Corporation chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch to which all finalists, their partners, and News Limited editors are invited.
The dinner rotates each year to a different city. In the first year, 2005, it was held in Adelaide; then Melbourne and Canberra.

The prizes

The News Awards not only carry prestige; they are the region's richest, with a prize pool of more than $100,000. The winner of the Sir Keith Murdoch Award for Journalism will receive a cash prize of $15,000. All other individual category winners will receive $5000, except the Young Journalist of the Year, who wins a secondment to a News Corporation newspaper in London or New York.*

The Newspaper of the Year, Suburban Newspaper of the Year, Regional Newspaper of the Year, Magazine of the Year and Website of the Year receive a trophy, in addition to the distinction that comes with the Award.

All prizes are pre-taxed at the winner's tax rate. This means you win the whole amount and you have no tax liability on it. The total pre-taxed amount will appear on your group certificate as part of your income for the year, but you will still not have a tax liability on it when you lodge your return.

In addition, all winners receive a News Award baton trophy and a framed certificate.

* If there are problems in taking up the secondment, a prize of up to $5000 can be awarded - but this is not guaranteed

Who attends the News Awards presentation?

Invitations to the Awards ceremony follow the same guidelines each year.

The guest list includes:

• All finalists and their nominated guest or partner. There are usually 75 finalists a year – a total of 150 guests - although this can vary
• Senior Group Executives
• Divisional Managing Directors and senior divisional managers
• Members of the Murdoch family
• The editors of our National, Metropolitan, Sunday and Regional daily newspapers
• The editors-in-chief of our community newspaper groups in each state
• All judges, including former or retired editors who are current judges
• A small number of senior staff from the host city of the Awards, depending on the budget 
• The key organisers of the Awards

Invitations also depend on your role, not on whether you were invited previously. If your role has changed, it is possible you are no longer eligible. Sometimes, although rarely, there is an oversight or an invitation is lost. If you would like to clarify this or any aspect of the invitation process, please contact Sarah Cullens on (02) 9288 3272 or cullenss@newsltd.com.au

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