Press Contact: Colby Kelly, colby@coveringclimatenow.org
Covering Climate Now invites journalists everywhere to submit work for the 2024 Covering Climate Now Journalism Awards, presented with the Columbia Journalism Review. Now in its fourth year, the CCNow Awards program has become an industry standard for excellence. Last year, the awards team received nearly 1,100 entries, from 29 countries on six continents. Winners and finalists came from outlets big and small, and together their work represented the leading edge of climate storytelling.
Work published or broadcast anytime in 2023 is eligible. There is no fee to enter. Entries will be accepted through March 1, 2024, at 11:59pm US Eastern Time.
For 2024, we’ve taken our categories in a significantly new direction. CCNow has identified 14 subject based categories, whereas in previous years categories were defined by medium. This change will help elevate work on specific and important aspects of the climate story — for example, solutions, justice, and health. To showcase the many ways journalists across the world explored similar subjects, we plan to honor multiple winners in each category, reflecting a range of styles, story lengths, outlet sizes, and geographic regions.
In addition to the subject-based categories, our judges will honor several “Emerging journalists of the year” — early-career journalists whose work shows exceptional promise — as well as work in a new “Large projects & collaborations” category.
“Our goal is to honor exemplary climate storytelling, regardless of where or how it appears,” said Kyle Pope, CCNow executive director of strategic initiatives and the chair of the awards judging committee. “It’s more important than ever that the stakes and the scale of the climate crisis are made clear, and great journalism helps make that happen.”
CCNow executive director Mark Hertsgaard said, “The last three years of the CCNow Journalism Awards have powerfully demonstrated that good journalism is itself an essential climate solution. Only when the public understands what is happening, why it’s happening, and what they can do about it will there be enough popular pressure to shift the status quo. Previous winners have provided those insights, while setting a standard for journalists everywhere to emulate, and we have no doubt this year’s winners will do the same.”
A diverse jury of distinguished journalists — from around the world and representing a variety of outlets and experiences, including prior CCNow Journalism Award winners — will select the winning work. Winners will be announced in June.