Submission rules

Submission timeline

Each year, our submission period opens on 1 November. On that date, a button will become available on our website’s main menu that brings you directly to our submission form. Our submission period usually lasts for around six weeks. However, we urge you to apply as soon as possible after we open for submissions, giving you time to communicate with us and deal with any possible technical difficulties well in advance of the deadline.

Eligibility

From our 2027 season onwards, we have a new rule on geographical eligibility. Projects will be accepted as eligible if they meet two of the following criteria:

  1. – The submitter’s nationality is European or their country of residence is in Europe;
  2. – The publication or outlet is based in Europe;
  3. – The topic or subject matter is European in nature, or relevance.

By Europe, we mean all 46 countries of Europe as defined by the Council of Europe, and Belarus and Russia.

The work submitted must have a publication date between 1 December of the calendar year prior, and December 31 of the running calendar year.

Our categories

The European Press Prize accepts submissions in five categories: Distinguished Reporting, Innovation, Investigative Reporting, Public Discourse and Migration Journalism.

Read all information on the categories here and watch the explanation videos. For examples of projects that have been nominated for our past editions, visit “Awards” on our website.

Different journalism formats

For Distinguished Reporting, Public Discourse, and Migration Journalism, text should be the predominant part of your entry. In those three categories, we are not accepting podcasts, documentaries, movies, TV broadcasts, and other types of journalism that do not have a core of written journalism.

As of this season, we are turning Investigative Reporting and Innovation into platform-neutral categories. This means that we accept any form of output for those categories: (online) articles, documentaries, movies, TV broadcasts, podcasts, and any other types of journalism. For those projects where text is not the predominant part of the entry, we ask for a supporting document to be handed in such as a transcript.

Number of projects

For authors submitting projects for the Investigative Reporting Award, Distinguished Reporting Award, Innovation Award and Migration Journalism Award only one project per submittee may be submitted.

For the Public Discourse Award, up to three articles may be submitted. If you want to enter multiple different articles for the Public Discourse category, make sure to fill out the application form separately for each piece.

If your work is part of a series, you will have to disclose this in the entry form. You will only be allowed to submit one part of the series and cannot merge several publications into one submission.

Paywalls

To facilitate access for PrepCom and Judges, entrants are required to place URLs outside any paywall. If that proves infeasible, the entry should contain a simple username and password for jurors, plainly indicated in the label for that URL. If a link it not accessible via the means described above, the Bureau and PrepCom reserves the right to disqualify the entry.

Language of the project

Please submit your project in the language of the original publication. Additionally, please provide an English translation of your article or transcript/supporting document. If you do not have a professional English translation, a basic machine-translated English translation of the article suffices (e.g. from DeepL or Google Translate).

Use of AI

When submitting work for the European Press Prize, applicants agree that they have used AI transparently, ethically, and responsibly.

On behalf of

If you are unable to submit your own work due to safety or logistical restraints, someone else can submit your work on your behalf. At the Bureau, we can also provide assistance. You can contact us at [email protected]

Procedure

If we require additional information about work entered, we will contact you directly to provide any missing information. You can read more about the procedure of the European Press Prize on the judging process page.

Terms and Conditions

Please make sure to read the Terms and Conditions carefully before submitting your work. These include important information about the copyright and republication of your work, amongst other things.