Entries have opened for the 2015 Newspaper of the Year awards.
The competition recognises excellence in newspapers, photography, environment and print and production, and last year attracted more than 1000 entries.
Sponsored by Norske Skog, they are open to national, metropolitan, regional, rural/community newspapers in Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and Asia. This year, the awards will include submissions from Country Press Association members.
There will be six categories for this year's Newspaper of the Year awards - newspaper of the year, digital destinations of the year, photography of the year, technical excellence award, the Hegarty Scholarship - which recognises the management potential of young news media executives - and the environment award.
Greater emphasis will be placed on the quality of journalism, cross platform execution, design and the ability to record a growing audience and uses emma (Enhanced Media Metrics Australia) data.
Entries will close on July 3 and finalists will be announced on August 21. The awards will be presented at a gala dinner on September 11 at the conclusion of the Future Forum newspaper industry conference to be held at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney.
"We have some of the best newspapers in the world, a number of which were recognised at the recent INMA Awards in New York," says The Newspaper Works chief executive Mark Hollands. "We are expecting another record number of entries to this year's awards which continue to be the pre-eminent awards in the region's news media industry."
The concurrent PANPA Advertising & Marketing Awards will be announced at Zeta Bar at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney on September 10 during the Future Forum conference.
Further information about the Newspaper of the Year awards and entry criteria can be found at: www.thenewspaperworks.com.au/awards.