Deadline: Entries must be postmarked or emailed by May 30, 2025.

Both electronic and print submissions are accepted. For those sending by post, entry packets including postage will be provided for any prison newspaper seeking to enter the contest. Send requests with the publication’s mailing address by email to [email protected] or in writing to the address below.

Complete one form per award category. If you are nominating a person for Outstanding Performance by a Woman Prison Journalist, the Award for Best Newsroom Leader, or the Award for Best Advisor, include a letter of nomination of 500 words or less detailing the nominee’s biography and describing why the nominee should receive the award. For all other categories, you may submit entries by email or post. If sending by post, send TWO PAPER COPIES of the publication or story under consideration with a copy of this completed form to: 

Mailing address:

PO Box 3252

Attn: Anne Ray

Church St. Station

New York, NY 10008-3252

By email: 

[email protected] 

General information: 

Publication title:____________________________________________________________________________

Year when publication established:_________________________________________________________

Your name and title:________________________________________________________________________

Mailing address:____________________________________________________________________________

Contact email (if applicable):_______________________________________________________________

Preferred contact method: _________________________________________________________________

Editor-in-chief: ____________________________________________________________________________
If applicable, feel free to list associate editors, staff writers, and other editorial staff members:__________________________________________________________________________________

I. Awards for individual publications or pieces

Select a category: 

• Best newspaper 
• Best magazine 
• Best debut publication (eligible: publications established 2022 to present)
• Best newsletter
• Best opinion article
• Best feature story
• Best longform magazine article (eligible: single or multi-part longform articles totaling 800 words or more)
• Best sports coverage
• Best local coverage (regional, local, or institution-specific)
• Best graphic journalism
• Best photo with caption

Please verify the eligibility of your submission:

• Submission is an original work from a prison news publication that is edited and managed by currently incarcerated people. 
• Submission is not a reprint of a previously published work. 
• Submission appeared in 2024 or 2025. 
• Submission meets the category eligibility requirements – see below for complete eligibility

Are you submitting this entry on behalf of someone else?

• Yes
• No

If yes, please enter your information and the information of the entrant on whose behalf you’re submitting. 

• Your name & affiliation (if applicable)___________________________________________________
• Your contact information________________________________________________________________
• I’m submitting on behalf of (please include prison and name of publication or journalist): ___________________________________________________________________________________________

Publication Information

Note: If you are entering multiple submissions from the same publication, you need only enter information into this section once. 

Publication’s editorial mission (300 words or less):

Please describe the resources the editors and staff are using to produce your publication. Does your publication have institutional support, via corrections staff or finances? Does your publication have assistance from individuals outside prison? Please share what kind of materials your publication uses, such as computers and office equipment. How is it printed and distributed?

The organizational sponsors of these awards, the Pollen Initiative and Southern Illinois University School of Journalism, would like to widely recognize winners with publicity and press coverage, for those who are comfortable with that. If your entry receives an award, what level of publicity are you comfortable with? 

• As much as possible – Public attention would be welcome and/or helpful
• Medium publicity  – I’d like to be recognized in the award ceremony and to have my prize listed on the website but don’t want more publicity than that
• No publicity – I’d like to continue my work but would like to refrain from extra public attention

The Penal Press Contest awards cash or the cash equivalent in resources as prizes. For all awards for publications, these monetary resources may be used only for the future production or development of that publication. Are you able to receive payments that go directly to your publication, or would you need to receive tangible resources (such as books, equipment, computers, etc?)

• This publication can receive cash payments
• This publication would need to receive the cash equivalent of the winnings through resources

Please free to elaborate on your answer:

(Optional) If applicable, please list the name and contact information for your administrative contact at your institution or department of corrections: 

II. Awards for individual leaders

Select the award for which you’re nominating a person: 

• Outstanding performance by a woman prison journalist
• Award for best newsroom leader
• Award for best advisor

Nominee: ___________________________________________________________________________________

Letter of nomination (500 words): 

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:

• Submissions must be from a publication that is edited and managed by currently incarcerated people who are incarcerated on the date of submission. 
• Submissions must have appeared in 2024 or 2025. 
• Publications that have assistance from an outside person or organization are eligible, as long as writing and editorial direction come from currently incarcerated contributors. 
• As the Penal Press Contest is an award for prison journalists, creative writing and art publications are not eligible. Examples of publications that are not eligible are journals or chapbooks that primarily publish memoir, fiction, poetry, or visual art.
• Works must be original. Pieces that previously appeared in other media outlets are not eligible. 
• Unpublished drafts are not eligible. 
• Works can only be entered in a maximum of two relevant categories.
• Entries for the Best Debut Publication category must have been established between 2022 and the present.
• Publications or pieces presenting or espousing a religious doctrine are not eligible.
• Publications or pieces displaying a clear intent of hate speech or harm will be excluded.