20th Annual AASFE Excellence-in-Feature-Writing Competition

The Excellence-in-Feature-Writing awards honor the craft of feature writing and the people who do it for a living at daily newspapers and for wire services.

The American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors also presents a Best Feature Section competition, which honors regularly scheduled feature sections that present lifestyle and arts and entertainment coverage with authority, utility, energy and wit. More detailed rules for this category are included below.

AASFE will accept entries for both competitions starting in early January, with an entry deadline of early March. Winners will be announced at AASFE's national convention in Houston in October 2008. The winners will include 5 finalists from each circulation division and a Top 10 selected from all finalists. Plaques and certificates will be awarded.

WHAT ARE THE PRIZES?

First-place winners in the general feature category in all four circulation divisions will receive $1,000. First-place winners in the remaining seven individual writing categories in all four circulation divisions will receive $500. Second and third place winners receive plaques. Honorable mentions receive certificates. In the Best Feature Section competition, top sections in each circulation category will receive certificates; the Top 10 will receive plaques.
Click here for an entry form.

Please Note: Entries must have appeared in daily newspapers between Jan. 1, 2007, and Dec. 31, 2007. The postmark deadline is Wednesday, March 12, 2008, for writing entries. The postmark deadline is Wednesday, March 19, 2008, for section entries.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE?

For the individual story categories, any staff writer -- full time or permanent part time -- for a daily newspaper or wire service in the United States or Canada may enter. Freelancers and staffers of weeklies are not eligible. Stories written by more than one writer are not eligible. For the feature section competition, any newspaper in the United States or Canada that publishes a daily feature section is eligible.

WHAT ARE THE CATEGORIES?

AASFE has nine categories in each of four circulation divisions:  
(1) up to 75,000
(2) 75,001 to 175,000  
(3) 175,001 to 300,000
(4) more than 300,000
Use official daily Audit Bureau of Circulation figures to determine your division. Check with your circulation department. In addition, the Audit Bureau of Circulations publishes circulation figures online. Wire service entries must be submitted in Division 4.

CATEGORIES

  • Best Feature Section: This category honors regularly scheduled feature sections that present lifestyle and arts and entertainment coverage. Sections will be judged on a point system; criteria will include content, service to readers and presentation.
  • General feature: Feature treatment of any lifestyle or news topic. Entries can be trend stories, profiles, interviews, news features, general features or narrative stories of 1,000 words or more. One sidebar may be included. Series or packages are not eligible.
  • Narrative feature: Narrative treatment of any lifestyle, arts or news topic. Entries would employ techniques of narrative non-fiction storytelling, which include vivid, scenic and dramatic writing. Entries may be a single story or a series of any length. Please include any box or sidebar that explains how the story was reported.
  • Short feature: Tight, bright writing of fewer than 1,000 words. (About 1½ standard newspaper columns in 9-point type.) No series packages or sidebars. A word count is required with each entry in this category (see entry form). Each word is included in the 1,000-word count, and entries with more than 1,000 words will be disqualified.
  • Feature specialty reporting: Three examples from one specialty topic such as religion, health, technology, fashion, travel, food, etc. Examples can include trend stories, profiles, interviews, news features, general features or narratives from the same specialty topic. Excluded are columns, commentary or arts and entertainment coverage.
  • General commentary: A collection of columns or essays on any human interest or specialty topic from any section of the paper, excluding editorials. One entry in this category consists of three examples of the writer's work, showing a range of personal and reported styles.
  • Headline writing: Entries consist of three examples of an individual's headlines and any accompanying decks. Examples should be submitted attached to the story (though the entire story is not required) and can be accompanied by related visuals. Judges will choose the best entry -- not the best, single headline -- based on clarity, accuracy and creativity.
  • Arts/entertainment commentary: A collection of reviews and columns on movies, music, dance, art, architecture, television, books, theater, opera, etc. One entry in this category consists of three examples of the reviewer's work and can include reviews, essays, columns and commentary.
  • Arts/entertainment feature: Feature treatment on any arts and entertainment topic (on movies, music, dance, art, architecture, television, books, theater, opera, etc.). Entries can be trend stories, profiles, interviews, feature stories or narratives of 1,000 words or more. One sidebar may be included. Series or packages are not eligible.

HOW DO I ENTER?

• Entries must have appeared in daily newspapers between Jan. 1, 2007, and Dec. 31, 2007. Story and headline writing entries are accepted in three forms: original published copies, photocopies of originals or computer printouts of stories from the newspaper's archives. Editors from the submitting papers must verify the authenticity of the printout as being the version of the story that originally appeared. To confirm authenticity, the submitting editor must initial the entry form where indicated.

• Each entry should be taped or glued to an 8 ½-by-11-inch paper and placed in a plain manila folder. Computer printouts from the archive may simply be stapled together and placed in a plain manila folder. In either case, the entry form should be stapled or glued to the front of each entry's manila folder.

• TWO COPIES are required for every writing competition entry.

• Do not send cover letters. DO NOT include photos, illustrations, photo illustrations, charts, maps, graphics, etc. except in the headline category noted above. Entries submitted with art and/or graphics will be disqualified. Cut out or black out these art elements before submitting your entry. Headlines, sigs and bylines may be included with story entries.

• Writers may submit only ONE entry per category (in the feature specialty reporting, general commentary, headline and arts/entertainment commentary categories, one entry consists of three samples). There is no limit to the number of entries each newspaper may submit.

• A single story may be entered in no more than two categories. For example, a general interest narrative could be entered in both general feature and narrative categories. Another example: A narrative of less than 1,000 words could be entered in both narrative and short feature. But two separate entries -- two entry forms, two copies of the text and two entry fees -- must be submitted.

• Fees are $25 per entry, with three exceptions. The fee for the general feature category and the narrative feature category will be $35. The fee for the best feature section contest is $50. Send a check payable to the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors with your material and entry form. AASFE's TIN is 94-294-1661.

• Writing contest entries must be postmarked by March 12, 2008. Be sure to include TWO COPIES of each entry. Indicate circulation division (1, 2, 3 or 4) in the return address of the envelope. Mail your entries to the address on the entry form.

• Winning entries for story and headline categories, as well as finalists for the Best Feature Section, will be announced in late summer, with the winners and Best Section Top 10 honored at the AASFE convention in Houston in October.

HOW DO I ENTER THE BEST FEATURE SECTION CATEGORY?

Visit this page to learn more.

DOWNLOAD AN APPLICATION

Download a PDF application to submit by mail. 

MAIL ENTRIES TO:

AASFE
College of Journalism
1117 Journalism Building
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-7111

QUESTIONS?


AASFE Writing Contest Chair
Sally A. Quinn
Deputy Managing Editor for Features
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
412-320-7885
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AASFE Writing Contest Co-chair
Nancy Malone
Online News Coordinator
Spokesman-Review
509-459-5424
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AASFE Best Feature Section Contest Chair
Christine Ledbetter
AME/Features
Minneapolis Tribune
612-673-7918
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AASFE Best Feature Contest Co-chair
Betsy Guzior
The State (Columbia, S.C.)
803-771-8441
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AASFE Executive Director
Kalyani Chandha
301-314-2631
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