Uganda National Journalism Awards 2023 entry rules and submission requirements

Please read these instructions carefully to the end. For inquiries send an email to awards[at]acme-ug.org with the subject, ‘UNJA 2023 inquiries‘.

Eligibility

• There is no entry fee.
• The competition is open to all journalists, freelance or full-time, and independent content producers working in Uganda.
• Work submitted must be published or broadcast in a Ugandan media outlet or a regional news outlet with wide distribution in Uganda.
• There are 18 categories in this competition: 2 institutional-based awards and 16 subject-based awards.
• All work (for subject-based entries) and strategies (for institutional-based entries) submitted must have been broadcast, published or implemented between 1 January and 31 December 2022.
• Entries for the Uganda National Journalism Awards must be submitted by midnight on 30 June 2023.

 

Rules and guidelines

1. All submissions must be made online using either one of these submission forms:

• UNJA 2023 institutional awards submission form
• UNJA 2023 topical categories submission form

 

2. Subject awards categories: Entrants must complete, in full, the submission form. A story or series of stories may be entered in one category only. Journalists may submit no more than two entries for the entire competition.

 

3. Institutional awards categories: Institutions must submit entries for competition using the UNJA 2023 institutional awards submission form. A media institution may submit entries for both institutional awards.

 

4. Translation required: If the submitted work was published or broadcast in a language other than English, you must provide an English translation or transcript.

 

5. Access to entries: If an outlet has a paywall or limited access (such as no more than five free stories per month), the entrant must provide entries in readable PDFs. Failure to provide accessible content during the screening and judging period will result in disqualification.

 

6. Deadline: All entries must be received before midnight on 30 June 2023. ACME is not responsible for late, lost, or misdirected entries that are not received on time or are lost due to computer or electronic malfunction or other error, or due to inaccessibility of the Internet or portions thereof.

 

7. Representations: By submitting an entry to the contest, entrants hereby represent and warrant that they (a) have the necessary rights to do so, and (b) are the author, creator, or producer (or co-author, co-creator, or co-producer, if so identified) of the Entry. Entrants will permit ACME to post files of the winning entries on its website and awards-related communications.

 

8. Privacy: Information provided to enter the competition will not be sold to third parties but may be shared as may be necessary for conducting and judging the contest and awarding prizes. ACME may from time to time contact entrants via email concerning the contest, and each entrant consents to receive such communications via email.

 

9. ACME reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual who is found to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the awards, to be acting in violation of these contest rules, or who otherwise takes actions that do or are intended to disrupt or undermine the legitimate operation of the awards. ACME also reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any entry containing any professional ethical violation, obscene, offensive or otherwise inappropriate comments or other matters.

 

10. Entry formats for topical awards categories:

PRINT ENTRIES

• Print entries should be submitted as clean, clearly legible, text-recognisable PDF documents. The date of publication must be visible.
• Photographs/illustrations should be sent, as published, in PDF format or as cuttings of the original published copies.

RADIO/PODCAST ENTRIES

• All work must be submitted in full audio form. Radio scripts with accompanying sound bytes will be disregarded.
• Entries must not be longer than 60 minutes.
• Large files should be sent using Google Drive or other large file FTP services like SendSpace and BigFiles. If you choose to send files using a third-party platform, this is in the submission form.

TELEVISION ENTRIES

• Emailed entries must be in MP4, AVI or MOV format.
• Entries must not be longer than 60 minutes.
• Large files should be sent using Google Drive or other large-file FTP services like SendSpace and BigFiles. Ensure that you enable all necessary access permissions.
• If you choose to send files using a third-party platform, indicate this in the submission form.
• If a link to a YouTube channel or video is provided, full access to enable viewing and download must be provided.

ONLINE ENTRIES

• Journalists should provide offline versions of the online published work in legible, machine-readable PDF format.
• Working live or cached links for the articles must be provided as well to ascertain publication or broadcast.