All entries are now due by midnight PDT on April 8, 2022 (following a one-week extension announced March 30). Winners will be announced in May. You must be a JEANC member for your students to enter these contests. To join or renew your membership, go here.

Any student work published from April 2, 2021 to April 1, 2022 is eligible for entry in this year’s contest (yearbook work is the exception). You may submit up to two entries per category, as long as they are not from the same student.

Also, remember to enter our two special categories: The Nicholas Ferentinos Memorial Press Freedom Award and our revamped Best of the West competition.

All the information you need can be found on the JEANC website under the contest tab. For more specific information and links, keep reading.

Contest FAQs

This is your go-to link. Here you can find FAQs for the contest and links to all the forms you’ll need to enter as well as a description of all the categories.

Contest categories

There are 64 different contest categories! There’s something for everyone. Here’s a list of all of them.

Best of the West

The Best of the West contest is now its own competition. First, second and third place Best of the West winners will receive a plaque. Categories will include Newspaper, Newsmagazine, Yearbook, News Website and Broadcast, and each entry will be $25. This award differs from the Best of Show award at NorCal Media Day since there is no in-person component. While staffs will be submitting a representative set of publications, this is not a critique and there will be no feedback on the entries. All the information you need is here.

I’m new. How do I get started?

This link has some great information about how to prep contest entries, including screencasts and web resources. Share this information with your student editors, so they can help share the work. And please reach out to any JEANC board member if you’re feeling overwhelmed, or need some tips on how get contest material ready or just have questions. We’re here to help! You can start with Board President Tripp Robbins.