Collier Award for Ethics in Journalism

Applications are now open for the Peter F. Collier Award for Ethics in Journalism to celebrate acts of journalism by student and professional journalists that meet the highest ethical standards in the face of pressure or incentives to do otherwise.

The Peter F. Collier Award for Ethics in Journalism is administered by the Ethics & Journalism Initiative at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University. This is the award’s inaugural year, and it will be granted annually.

Focus Issues

• Minimising harm to sources, subjects, or others in the community
• Determining whether and how to identify sensitive sources
• Balancing privacy considerations with the imperative to disclose information in the public interest
• Providing a fair opportunity to respond and upholding the “no-surprises rule,” despite the risk of losing exclusivity or triggering a pre-publication attack on the story
• Ethically deploying data or artificial intelligence
• Avoiding false equivalency when the factual bases for opposing views are unequal
• Providing transparency to the news consumer about how you made the ethical choices that went into the reporting of the story

Eligibility Criteria

• For the student category:
  An entry in the student category must be the original work of a high-school student or team of students, including those who are homeschooled, or of part-time or full-time students enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree program. The work should demonstrate impact or significance in the face of ethical challenges. The entry must have been published in a student or professional publication or news site, and the submitted version must be the original work that was published.
  
• For the local category:
  An entry in the local category must be the original work of a staff or freelance journalist, or team of journalists. The work should demonstrate local or regional impact or significance in the face of ethical challenges, and it must have been published in a newspaper, magazine, broadcast or audio outlet, wire service or news site in the U.S. The work submitted must be the version that was originally published.
• For the national/international category:
  An entry in the national/international category must be the original work of a staff or freelance journalist, or team of journalists. The work should demonstrate national or international impact or significance in the face of ethical challenges, and it must have been published in a newspaper, magazine, broadcast or audio outlet, wire service or news site in the U.S. The work submitted must be the version that was originally published.

Award Information

You may submit your work for recognition in the following categories:

• A $5,000 award or scholarship for exemplary ethical journalism by a high school, undergraduate, or graduate student journalist ($500 for second place, $250 for third place)
• A $10,000 award for exemplary ethical journalism with local or regional impact or significance by a professional journalist or team ($1,000 for second place, $500 for third place)
• A $15,000 award for exemplary ethical journalism with national or international impact or significance by a professional journalist or team ($2,500 for second place, $1,000 for third place)

How to apply

The application deadline for this is December 9, 2024. To learn more and apply, please click here.