SFJ’s 2025 Excellence-in-Features contest launches with new divisions, categories
The Society for Features Journalism is thrilled to announce that our 2025 Excellence-in-Features contest is now open for submissions!
Once again, first-place winners in each category will receive $300.
Entry costs will be split into two tiers:
Early-bird submissions: Jan. 21 through Feb. 18, cost per entry is $50
Regular submissions: Feb. 19 through March 5, cost per entry is $55
All entries must have been published in print or online between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024. You can log in to the BetterNewspaperContest.com and scroll to find the 2025 Society for Features Journalism Excellence-in-Features Awards. Please use a Chrome browser.
In the past, SFJ based its divisions on circulation. This year, we updated those divisions to better reflect how newsrooms work today. Here are our updated contest division descriptions for the 2025 awards:
DIVISION 1: Newspapers with 50 or fewer full-time editorial employees or magazines and web-only publications with a local-city-metro area focus.
DIVISION 2: Newspapers with between 51 to 200 full-time editorial employees or magazines and web-only publications with a regional or statewide focus.
DIVISION 3: Newspapers with 201 or more full-time editorial employees or magazines and web-only publications with a national focus.
We have also updated several contest categories for 2025.
We’ve beefed up the description of our Podcast–Narrative combined category.
Description: An audio story on a lifestyle or culture topic using narrative techniques that include, but are not limited to, character development, narrative arc and a sense of place. All entries consist of three episodes and, regardless of division category, compete in one group.
We’ve changed our Visual Storytelling categories into a single combined category called Narrative Video.
Description: A single video of no longer than 5 minutes on a lifestyle or culture topic that embodies the narrative style, using techniques such as character development, use of dialogue, sense of place and narrative arc.
We’ve added a new combined category called Social Media Portfolio.
Description: This award recognizes stories published on news organizations’ social media platforms using elements such as video, audio, graphics, photography and more. Please submit three examples from platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and others.
All three divisions have a new category called Special Product, Digital or Print.
Description: The best example of anything outside of regular coverage. It could be a one-time publication or published more often, but not a recurring weekly product. A weekly entertainment tab does not qualify, for example, but a once-a-year dining guide or quarterly travel magazine can be entered.
If you have questions about the new contest divisions or categories, email our contest administrator at sfjcontest4@gmail.com.
SFJ contest categories for 2025 contest
NEW DIVISIONS
DIVISION 1 | Newspapers with 50 or fewer full-time editorial employees or magazines and web-only publications with a local-city-metro area focus
DIVISION 2 | Newspapers with between 51 and 200 full-time employees or magazines and web-only publications with a regional or statewide focus
DIVISION 3 | Newspapers with 201 or more full-time editorial employees or magazines and web-only publications with a national focus
CATEGORIES
GENERAL FEATURE 2,500+ WORDS: This category will celebrate longform storytelling at its finest, and must be at least 2,500 words; no world limit after that. Feature topics can be A&E, lifestyles or news. Food features should be entered in the Food Feature category.
GENERAL FEATURE 1,000-2,499 WORDS: This category will highlight top-notch feature storytelling between 1,000 and 2,499 words. Feature topics can be A&E, lifestyles or news. Food features should be entered in the Food Feature category.
GENERAL FEATURE 999 WORDS OR FEWER: This category will honor excellence in short feature writing, so please share your best examples of tight, bright writing of fewer than 1,000 words. Feature topics can be A&E, lifestyles or news. Food features should be entered in the Food Feature category.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT FEATURE: Feature treatment of an arts and entertainment topic.
FOOD FEATURE: A single story focusing on food, not including reviews or commentary. Can be a trend story, personality profile, narrative piece, how-to or other feature treatment of a food topic.
FOOD CRITICISM: A single story, such as a restaurant review, that offers opinions about a topic or restaurant in the food industry.
FEATURES SERIES OR PROJECT: Feature treatment of any lifestyle, A&E or news topic that has multiple parts.
NARRATIVE STORYTELLING: A single story told in a narrative style, using techniques such as character development, use of dialogue, sense of place, scene building, narrative arc and adherence to a theme.
FEATURES BEAT WRITING PORTFOLIO: Three stories by the same writer on one features specialty topic, such as arts and entertainment, fashion, food, health, religion, technology or travel.
FOOD WRITING PORTFOLIO: Three stories, columns or reviews by the same writer on any food topic.
GENERAL COMMENTARY PORTFOLIO: A collection of three columns or essays by the same writer on any human interest or specialty topic, excluding editorials. Newsletters qualify here.
ARTS & CULTURE CRITICISM PORTFOLIO: A collection of three columns, essays or reviews by the same writer on any arts, entertainment or culture topic, including dining reviews but excluding editorials.
SPORTS FEATURE: Feature treatment of any sports topic.
SPECIAL PRODUCT, DIGITAL OR PRINT: The best example of anything outside regular coverage. The best example of anything outside of regular coverage. Could be a one-time publication or published more often, but not a recurring weekly product. A weekly entertainment tab does not qualify, for example, but a once-a-year dining guide or quarterly travel magazine can be entered. (This replaces two previous categories: Special Section and Special Product.).
UTILITY FEATURE PORTFOLIO: Three stories focused on educating readers about topics that affect their everyday lives (e.g., health, retail prices, product availability) in an easy-to-digest, consumer-oriented, “news you can use” way. Multiple bylines accepted. Please attach a 100- to 150-word letter explaining how the writer(s) knew this was information the community needed.
FIRST-PERSON NARRATIVE/ESSAY: A single story written as an essay or in the first-person point of view that demonstrates a sense of proportion and perspective.
FEATURE WRITING PORTFOLIO: Three stories by the same writer that can be a combination of any beats.
INCLUSION AND REPRESENTATION IN FEATURES: The coverage of any lifestyle or culture topic that centers historically marginalized or under covered communities through revelatory storytelling. Such community identities can be at (and is not limited to) any intersection of the following: race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs or other ideologies, or any identity with lesser power. An entry can be a single story, a series, multimedia package or any combination thereof. Multiple bylines accepted. An entry should check most of the following points:
The story is produced for a community, not about it.
There is a strong voice or point of view.
There are elements of intentionality, compassion and empathy.
There is a challenging of assumptions and biases.
There is a sense of celebration and/or sharing of our journalistic platform.
There is a sense of urgency.
There is a portrait of the human experience.
COMBINED DIVISION CATEGORIES (all entries compete in one division)
PODCAST — NARRATIVE: An audio story on a lifestyle or culture topic using narrative techniques that include, but are not limited to, character development, narrative arc and a sense of place. All entries consist of three episodes and, regardless of division category, compete in one group.
NARRATIVE VIDEO: A single video of no longer than 5 minutes on a lifestyle or cultural topic that embodies the narrative style, using techniques such as character development, use of dialogue, sense of place and narrative arc.
SOCIAL MEDIA PORTFOLIO: This award recognizes great storytelling published on news organizations’ social media platforms using elements such as video, audio, graphics, photography and more. Please submit three examples from platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and others.
Here are some helpful tips for SFJ contest entrants:
If your media organization is in the Contestant Manager dropdown list and you don’t remember your password (or you need to change the name of the contact person compiling the entries), send an email to our contest administrator Terry Bertling at SFJcontest4@gmail.com. She can update your account.
Our divisions have changed to reflect staff sizes and coverage focus instead of print circulation sizes. If your media organization division needs to be updated, please let the contest administrator know so she can move your account to the right division.
All Open Call Contestants go through an approval process by our contest administrator, using information in your credentials section in your new account to grant access to the contest. Make sure you tell us about you and your published work in that credentials section so we can approve your account. We’re checking for accounts that need to be approved at least twice a day.
HUGELY IMPORTANT FAVOR: Please make sure you include the login credentials (email and password) in the Comments/Caption section for each entry to get judges past any paywall. Please also note your division in that space. (Division 1, newspapers with 50 or fewer full-time editorial employees or magazines and web-only publications with a local-city-metro area focus; Division 2, newspapers with 51-200 full-time editorial employees or magazines and web-only publications with a regional or statewide focus; Division 3, newspapers with 201 or more full-time editorial employees or magazines and web-only publications with a national focus.)
Most categories give you the option of including a URL or a PDF. You can include both.
When you pay for your entries using PayPal, you can print a receipt for your payment.
When you see the option pop up in your contest account, please provide your email address and social media handles.
Thank you for entering our contest and good luck!