FJA Contest Regulations

(International Awards in Journalism)

Any person who submitted application for participation in FJA contest is deemed to have read and understood these Regulations to the fullest extent, and may not declare otherwise in the course of participation in the contest and/or at the stage of determining the participants as the contest winners.

Objectives

The Contest is organized to determine finalists and winners among the journalists whose publications made considerable contribution to the society.
The contest aims to promote contemporary journalism as a unique profession that seeks to make the world a better place.
The contest aims to discovery and reveal to the world the names of the journalists whose actions can serve as an inspiration for global changes.

General Provisions

The contest is held around the world with preliminary selection of participants based on qualification requirements. The contest is held annually.
The subject of the contest is journalistic materials that had considerable positive impact on the political, economic or social situation and brought significant changes in a particular area, country or globally.
Journalists from all over the world have the right to participate in the contest regardless of their citizenship, nationality and religion.
Only persons over the age of 18 have the right to participate in the contest.
Publications participating in the contest must have been published in printed media and/or posted on media websites and media outlets from 1st June of the year prior to that in which the competition is held to 31st May of the year in which the competition is held.
Films and video investigations as well as audio narratives as separate pieces of work are not accepted for the contest.
Only original publications are accepted for participation in the contest.
Publications in all languages are accepted for participation in the contest. Publications in languages other than English must be accompanied by translation into English.
Twelve (12) prize-winners (1st, 2nd and 3d prize-winners in each category) must abstain from participation in FJA competition over the next three (3) years after their victory.
Steering Committe reserves the right to alter terms of participation in the contest.
The Founder of the Fetisov Journalism Awards is not involved in organizing the contest and selecting the entries. The sole function of the Founder is to finance the contest and ensure the prize fund.

Steering Committee

Steering committee is the organizer of the contest.
Steering committee exercises the following functions:

selects and approves members of the Jury and Expert Council;
provides information support of the contest;
receives and processes applications (verifies compliance of submitted entries to the rules of the contest);
submits publications to the Jury and Expert Council for assessment;
organizes the award ceremony.

Steering Committee is responsible for the following:

providing equal conditions for all the participants;
giving wide publicity to the contest;
providing confidentiality of competition results prior to the date of their official announcement.

Steering Committee has the right to delegate particular organizational functions to third parties.

Expert Council

Expert Council members select publications for the shortlist. by independent voting. Publications are selected by a majority of votes.
Expert Council consists a minimum of 10 (ten) persons and its members are elected by the Steering Committee.
The Expert Council consists of recognized experts in the field of journalism whose expertise contributes to professional, objective and independent assessment of competitive publications.

Jury

Jury members select finalists and winners of the contest from the shortlist submitted by the Expert Council.
The Jury consists a minimum of 6 (six) persons and is approved by the Steering Committee annually.
Representatives of international journalism organizations have the right to propose candidates for the Jury.
The following persons may enter the Jury:

professional journalists and editors of media outlets,
scientists in journalism departments of higher educational institutions;
representatives of journalism organizations;
members of the Steering Committee and Expert Council of the contest.

Organization

Terms and conditions of the contest are available on FJA website.
Information about the contest is sent to the registered journalism organizations by members of the Steering Committee.
Questions regarding the contest and its arrangement may be sent to the Steering Committee by e-mail info@fjawards.com.

Participation in the Contest

Entries are open to professional journalists, i.e. representatives of the media and professional journalism organizations as well as freelance journalists.
Self-nominations are allowed.
Entries are limited to one entry (one reporting or a series of reportings) per person.
Maximum of 3 (three) journalists from one journalism organization may be nominated for the awards.
Applications must be submitted to the Steering Committee via the website of the contest. In order to apply for participation one must fill out an application form on the website of the contest and attach one publication according to the given instructions.
The detailed desciption of the rules is published in 'How to Enter' section of the website.
If any violation of the submission rules is identified at any stage of the competition the Steering Committee has the right to disqualify such entries immediately.
The Steering Committee reserves the right to alter terms of participation in the contest.

The following information must be provided in the application form:

Personal details about representative of journalism organization:

Surname and first name;
Professional journalism organization they are representing;
Country of registration of a professional journalism organization;
Contact details (phone number, e-mail)

Personal details about an author of a publication:

Surname and first name;
Gender;
Citizenship or country of residence;
Author’s place of work (name of organization and address);
Author’s job position;
Contact details (phone number, e-mail);
Contact details of one or more organizations for requesting references about the author
Author’s written consent to participate in the contest (in free format)

Data about a publication:

Contest category;
Information about publication (title and media platform where reporting was published, country of publication;
Original language of publication;
Link to the publication, date of publication;
Reasons for nomination in brief (a few statements)

Applications must be submitted to the organizers prior to the deadline indicated on the website of the contest.
Submitted publications and the links to the original sources may be selectively mentioned on the website of the contest and published in FJA annual reports availabale for non-commercial use.

Selection of Winners

Publications submitted for the contest are reviewed and selected for shortlist by the Expert Council. Publications are selected by independent voting. Publications that received a majority of votes enter the shortlist.
Maximum of 40 (forty) publications (maximum of 10 (ten) in each category) may enter the shortlist. The Steering Committee reserves the right to modify the given clause guided by the principle of reasonability.
The shortlist is produced prior to the date indicated on the website.
The shortlist is posted on the website of the contest.
Publications that entered the shortlist are assessed by the Jury.
The assessment of publications is performed by each Jury member independently. Publications are rated on a scale from 1 to 10. Relevance to the theme and objectives of the contest is the major criterion of evaluation.
The final score received by each participant is calculated by averaging the total points given by all the members of the Jury.
Maximum of 3 (three) winners in each category are defined prior to the date indicated on the website of the contest.
The Steering Committee reserves the right to change the rules of entry and selection of winners.

Summing Up the Results

Contest results are announced at the award ceremony.
Contest results are given wide coverage in mass media and are to be posted on the website of the contest and websites of international journalism organizations.

Awards

Following the results of the contest, the finalists are rewarded with monetary prizes, memorable gifts and certificates at the award ceremony.

The award procedure of the contest is defined by the Steering Committee.

Three winners in each category share a monetary prize of 130,000 CHF (including taxes, as stipulated by the legislation in force).
The first prize winner receives 100,000 CHF.
The second prize winner receives 20,000 CHF.
The third prize winner receives 10,000 CHF.

A monetary prize is granted by Fetisov Charitable Foundation. The prize is presented to the winners in the form of a bank cheque on the day of the award ceremony. Laureates who are not able to attend the award ceremony due to valid reasons (disease, injury, fight in the territory of the country, epidemic, calamity, etc.) have the right to apply for money bank transfer to their operating account or collect the money prize from the members of the Steering Committee later at the agreed time.

The organizers of the competition (the Steering Committee and the Fetisov Charitable Foundation) do not take responsibility for the content of the publications submitted for the competition.

The Steering Committee has the right to revoke the status of a prize winner from a contestant if violations of the contest rules are revealed after the award ceremony.