Pulitzer Prize rules changed to recognise multimedia journalism

Rule changes to the journalism contest for next year's Pulitzer Prizes were announced yesterday in an attempt by the prize board to encourage entries from a variety of media formats.

According to the board, the changes have been made in order to "recognise the growing importance of visual storytelling using video and other multimedia formats and the board's ongoing intention to honour the best journalism from eligible news organisations, regardless of format".

The changes include an explicit statement for 12 out of 14 of the journalism categories that entries may use any available journalistic tool, including text reporting, videos, databases, multimedia, interactive presentations or any combination of those formats. The two categories to remain unchanged are photography categories.

"In the 94 years since the prize was created, text - and particularly ink-on-newsprint - was the primary way newspapers delivered information," the press release says. "So the prizes have primarily gone to printed journalistic work.

"As newspapers and other eligible news organizations increasingly use other methods to tell stories and reach readers, the Pulitzer Board has several times revised the rules so the contest evolves with the profession."

In 2008 it was announced that online-only publications could submit entries to the prize.

The release adds that jurors will be asked to bring their laptops to the judging in March next year "so they can more easily view multimedia and visual elements as they were seen originally by readers", in an attempt to try and ensure the work is viewed equally.

Other changes for 2011 include an increase in the number of individual names on a team entry from three to five, to include the strongest contributors to the work, "whether they are text reporters, photographers, videographers, graphic artists, producers or journalists who have worked in more than one format."

Photographs must now also be submitted electronically in the Breaking News and Feature photography categories.

The deadline for journalism entries to the prize is 1 February 2011.

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