NPC Journalism Awards: News Photography Award
This award recognizes excellence in spot news photography. Entries should demonstrate a photographer's instincts and photo skills.
Entry Requirements:
- Starting in 2025, we are broadening the scope of eligible entries in our news photography category. News photos submitted to stock photo agencies and published for syndication, in addition to those appearing in traditional news media, are now eligible for consideration. This change reflects the evolving landscape of journalism and ensures a wider pool of talented photographers can showcase their work in our contest.
- These photos must be published in news publications such as newspapers, magazines, online media or distributed by stock photo agencies for syndication during 2024. A limit of three photo entries per individual.
- Spot news entries should be a news photograph of an unplanned event that is spontaneous and requires the photographer to rely on instincts and photo skills, or a photo that accurately and effectively illustrates a news story.
- Photos taken for house organs, pamphlets or reports, or advocacy outlets of interest groups such as trade associations, consumer organizations or government agencies will not be considered.
- The photo awards are intended to honor professional photojournalists who have produced outstanding work, either for traditional news outlets or as photos submitted to stock photo agencies and published for syndication.
- Non-traditional entrants are free to explain in supporting materials how they meet these journalistic criteria.
Technical Guidelines:
- Entrants should submit a printed copy of the photo as it appeared in a newspaper or magazine where the photo (or photos) appeared, or a printed copy or 'screen grab" of the news website where it appeared. The date of publication should be visible.
- Content must not be altered in Photoshop or by any other means to digitally add or subtract, beyond retouching to eliminate dust and scratches and reasonable adjustments such as cropping, dodging and burning and minor color adjustments.
Photo Guidelines:
- JPG entries are required in all photography divisions, for both single-image and multiple-image story categories. Please limit multiple image stories to six (6) photos.
- File type: JPG; be sure each file is a .JPG and carries the extension ".JPG"
- Quality (under "compression"): .JPG high
- Resolution: 200 to 300 dpi, minimum
- Color Mode: RGB
- Image Size: 2,500 pixels or larger, on the longer side - width or height.
- File size for a single photograph should be no more than 4 MB
- Provide caption information for the photos that will be clear to the judges, maybe by numbering the photos in a picture story and matching numbers on the captions.
Prize: One free year of membership in appropriate category.
General Eligibility: Through these awards, the National Press Club seeks to recognize and honor professional journalists who have produced outstanding work for the public, either independently or as employees of editorially independent news entities. In all cases, judges will give weight to demonstration of individual enterprise, fairness, accuracy, and objectivity. Content produced for house organs, pamphlets, theses or reports will not be considered, nor will advocacy outlets of interest groups such as trade associations, consumer organizations or government agencies. Entries may be submitted by either journalists or their employers. Non-traditional entrants are free to explain in supporting materials how they meet these journalistic criteria, and should submit a statement explaining their editorial independence.