Scripps Howard Awards entries open Dec. 1, honoring 2017's most impactful journalism

CINCINNATI, Nov. 29, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Scripps Howard Awards, one of the nation's most prestigious journalism competitions, will accept entries from Dec. 1 to Feb. 2.

The Awards' 65th competition will present $170,000 in prize money for work across 16 categories, including the Impact Award, which will honor the year's best work from all winners. The awards will be presented on April 19, 2018, with a live show hosted by "60 Minutes" correspondent Lara Logan.

With a focus on high-impact reporting, the awards recognize journalism that spurs action; news organizations that go the extra mile to expose previously undisclosed or misunderstood information; and journalists who embrace new tools, channels, technologies and approaches or creatively use established methods to provide more meaningful experiences for their audiences.

"Journalism plays an indispensable role in our democracy," said Liz Carter, president and CEO of the Scripps Howard Foundation, which administers the Awards. "The Scripps Howard Awards reflect the media landscape today, and the changes we have introduced to categories are designed to keep the program relevant and recognize the significant and impactful work of dedicated journalists."

Awards changes

The 2017 awards include one new category, while three others have new names:

• Multimedia Journalism is a new category for 2017 that honors the best use of multiple platforms for storytelling or coverage of an event or issue.
• Visual Journalism (previously the Photojournalism category) recognizes excellence in still photography and video.
• The Digital Innovation category has been renamed Innovation and recognizes those who experiment with methods of story gathering and presentation to deliver works of impact.
• The Impact Award recognizes journalism that serves the public through coverage of an issue leading to changes in the public, private or business sector. Winners in each of the other categories compete for this award, which was previously known as the Public Service Award.

Past winners of the Scripps Howard Awards have represented some of the most important journalism of recent times. In 2016, Eric Eyre of the Charleston Gazette-Mail took home the First Amendment award for a series that brought to light an epidemic of prescription painkillers that gave West Virginia the nation's highest drug overdose rate. And in the Business/Economics Reporting category, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, McClatchy and the Miami Herald uncovered a massive network of offshore bank accounts linked to drug kingpins, arms traffickers and people close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The stories led to several inquiries, audits and investigations.

Topic of the Year

The title of the Topic of the Year category is "America Divided," with a focus on work that exposes, explores or contributes to the understanding of polarizing issues such as immigration, Confederate monuments, freedom of speech, gun rights and demonstrations at sporting events and their effect on communities, families, institutions or policies.

Finalists to be announced in February

Judging will take place Feb. 22-23 at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Florida. Finalists will be announced on Feb. 27, with winners to be announced on March 6 via live streams on YouTube and Facebook.

The awards show will be held at historic Memorial Hall in Cincinnati on April 19, and the show will once again be streamed live on YouTube and Facebook.

Keep up with the latest news on the Scripps Howard Awards through Facebook and Twitter, and find out more about how to enter at shawards.org.

About the Scripps Howard Foundation

The Scripps Howard Foundation supports philanthropic causes important to The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE: SSP) and the communities it serves, with a special emphasis on excellence in journalism. At the crossroads of the classroom and the newsroom, the Foundation is a leader in supporting journalism education, scholarships, internships, minority recruitment and development, literacy and First Amendment causes. The Scripps Howard Awards stand as one of the industry's top honors for outstanding journalism. The Foundation improves lives and helps build thriving communities. It partners with Scripps brands to create awareness of local issues and supports impactful organizations to drive solutions.

SOURCE The E.W. Scripps Company

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