Headline Writer of the Year

This award will be judged on the author's five best headlines.

Criteria

Emphasis will be on headlines that are attention-grabbing, relevant, original and creative.

They may have appeared in any section or page of a News Limited newspaper, magazine or website.

Please submit the page featuring each headline and the story to which it relates.

What to submit

Aside from the submitted work to be judged, every entry must include:

1. Your resume or career outline. This doesn’t need to be a full CV. It must include your contact details
2. Your five best headlines
3. A background statement about your entry

Background statement

This is important. It provides the context for judges to assess the journalistic enterprise you brought to the work.

The statement needs to cover everything that is not immediately obvious from the headline itself: how the idea came about, the deadline and circumstances and any difficulties you encountered.

Remember, the editors judging your work do not come from your publication and may not be familiar with local affairs in your state. Do not assume they have in-depth knowledge of the story.

Your background statement should include details of how your entry meets the selection criteria. If your entry reaches the final rounds of the awards it will be subject to background checks with your editor and colleagues.

In terms of the entry coupon, it would be preferable in this category to write one background statement for the five headlines, and attach all PDFs of the published pages in the area provided for the first work example.

Dates for eligible work

All submitted work must have been published in the 12 months from August 1, 2009, to July 31, 2010.  

Who can enter

The award is open to all editorial staff working on all News Limited national, metropolitan, regional and community publications, websites and magazines in Australia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

Permanent part-time staff are eligible, as are contractors. Casual employees, freelancers and contributors are not eligible. It is open either to individuals, or to teams that are jointly responsible for the entry.

You may nominate yourself or a colleague. If you are nominating someone else, you need to lodge the entry yourself and give your contact details.

How many times can you enter?

Individuals may enter the same category only once a year.

You may enter more than one category (ie, The Sir Keith Murdoch Award for Journalism and Features Journalist of the Year), provided that different material is submitted for each different award.

The same work may be entered in only two of the award categories. The exceptions are Scoop of the Year, where the scoop may be included again in a body of work for another award, and Photograph of the Year

How to Enter

Please read the preliminary instructions provided on the website. There are links there for guidelines for library PDF or page archive retrieval.

Entry via the website is preferred.

If you cannot do this, a CD-ROM of your entry is acceptable. Please include on the CD a document giving your name, publication or website, category and contact details. Include a CV or resume, as well as the examples of your work. Send this to: News Awards, c/o Corporate Affairs, Level 5, News Limited, 2 Holt Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010.

You may send your entry in the internal mail, where this service is provided – but email Sarah Cullens cullenss@newsltd.com.au so we know a CD entry has been lodged.

Entries from PNG, Fiji, WA Community Newspapers and some areas of News Digital Media will need to be via CD because they have no access to the entry coupon from the website.
If you have any problems submitting your online entry, call Les Hoffman, on 02 6680 2080 or email hoffmanl@newsltd.com.au.

If you have any questions about the awards, call Lucinda Duckett on 02 9288 3125 or email duckettl@newsltd.com.au.

Closing date

Entries must be received by 5.00pm Wednesday, August 4. There will be no exceptions.