The Sidney Hillman Foundation is now accepting nominations and submissions for the 2012 Hillman Prizes that honor investigative journalism and commentary in service of the common good. The 2012 prizes will be given for work produced, published, broadcast, or exhibited in 2011.

This year's categories are as follows:

1. Book (bound volumes and ebooks)

2. Newspaper Journalism (story or series/in print or online) 


3. Magazine Journalism (story or series/in print or online) 


4. Broadcast Journalism (story or series/at least 20 minutes in total package length) Open to television, web TV, radio, podcast, and documentary film.

5. Web Journalism (publication/story or series/multimedia media project) Open to blogs, computer-assisted reporting, new investigative tools, mapping, crowd sourcing, and other multimedia media projects. Entries should feature a substantial text component.

6. Photojournalism (for a series of still photos, no single images) Entries in this category must include still photos, either alone, or as part of a multimedia package. For example, the winning entry of the 2011 Hillman Prize for Photojournalism featured still photos and web video.

7. Opinion Journalism (any medium) Includes all types of advocacy, opinion, and analysis, normally short-form and/or frequent, regardless of medium. Open to newspaper and magazine columnists, TV and radio presenters, podcasters, blogs, and bloggers.

If you are unsure about which category your work fits into, just go ahead and submit, and the foundation will determine the best category for it.
 
Winners will be announced in April 2012. Each winner is awarded travel to New York City to receive a $5,000 prize and a certificate designed by New Yorker cartoonist, Edward Sorel, at our awards ceremony and cocktail reception to be held Tuesday May 1, 2012.
 
Submissions are judged by a distinguished panel of journalists: Hendrik Hertzberg, senior editor, The New Yorker, Susan Meiselas, Magnum photographer, Harold Meyerson, Washington Post columnist and editor-at-large, The American Prospect, Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher, The Nation, and Rose Marie Arce, senior producer, CNN. 
 
You can see previous winners here.

Since 1950, the Sidney Hillman Foundation has honored journalists, writers and public figures that pursue investigative journalism and public policy for the common good. Sidney Hillman was the founding president of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union of America, a predecessor union of Workers United, SEIU. Sidney Hillman, an architect of the New Deal, fought to build a vibrant union movement extending beyond the shop floor to all aspects of workers’ lives.

Rules and Requirements

The postmark deadline for all nominations and submissions is January 31, 2012. There is no submission fee. A cover letter and four copies of the nominated material are all that are required in addition to completing the form below. 

The contest is open to journalists and subjects globally, although work must be published in the U.S. You may nominate your own work or someone else's.

The cover letter should be 1-2 pages and summarize the content of the work and explain why it deserves the prize according to the mission of the Hillman Foundation. Please describe the impact of the work and the reporting methods used. Make sure to include the following information in your letter:

• Date or range of dates the submission was published
• Title of the piece
• Prize category
• Job titles for all contributors
• Publication name

Please send all materials according to the instructions listed by category below. If sending tear sheets (preferred), applicants should indicate with a highlighter or sticker which article is being submitted on each page.

For all categories, please include:

• A printed copy of this form with all known fields completed
• Four copies of the nominated work
• Four copies of the cover letter

For Photojournalism entries, we would most like to see tear sheets (photos as they were published) but scanned work on discs is also acceptable and/or can be supplemental.  If your images are online only, please submit links below instead to submit your URLs.

For Web Journalism entries please send all relevant links. You are also welcome to send in any printed materials connected to the piece or project.

For Opinion Journlism entries from online publications, please choose up to 5 posts and make your nomination online by completing the extra fields at the bottom of this form, as indicated. No printed copies are needed.

Please send all materials to address above, with exception of online-only entrants who are required to fill out extended form below.