International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

Awards Criteria

To apply for the Daniel Pearl Awards for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting, follow the guidelines below and complete a Pearl Awards Application Form. Incomplete entries, as well as those that arrive after the deadline, will be disqualified.

Applicants:
Any professional journalist or team of journalists of any nationality is eligible to submit an individual investigative piece of work, or single-subject series, on a transnational topic of world significance. Works produced in print, broadcast, and online media are eligible; books are not eligible. In the case of a team of journalists, the first name listed on the application shall be deemed to be the designated representative of the team.

Criteria:
Work must have been first published or broadcast in general information media between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2009. The story or series must involve reporting in at least two countries. Preference will be given to projects that involved on-the-ground reporting in those countries. Work is eligible without regard to the language in which it originally appeared. However, entries submitted in the original language must be accompanied by an English translation. For video/audio entries, English-language transcripts are required. English-language subtitles on video entries are preferred but not mandatory. Audio entries should be sent on CD, with accompanying script; video entries on DVD format, with accompanying script. Six copies of each submission are required. No e-mail submissions accepted.

Submission Letter:
Include a brief synopsis of the story/series and explain the background of the project, identifying the issues and key players. Describe what led you to the topic, any unusual conditions you or your team faced in developing the project, and whether the investigation had any ramifications. If there were any challenges to the content of the story/series that were not reported in the original work, you must describe them in your letter. The submission letter should be in English and no longer than two typed pages. Curriculum vitae must be submitted for every reporter named in the entry.

Entry Fee:
None.

Deadline:
All entries must be postmarked no later than January 15, 2010. Only one entry per applicant is allowed.

Selection:
A five-member international jury of journalists and/or journalism educators will select the Pearl Awards winner and finalists.

Presentation:
Awards are made payable to the individual journalist responsible for the winning work or, in the case of a team of journalists, to the team’s designated representative. The Pearl Awards will be announced at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, in April 2010.

Signature and Permission:
The signature of the applying journalist (or the applying team’s designated representative) is required. If the copyright to the work is not owned by the applying journalist or team of journalists, the signature of the copyright owner (or its authorized representative) is also required. The signature grants ICIJ a non-exclusive, royalty-free, irrevocable license to reproduce, publish, and distribute the work (in whole or in part) in any Center for Public Integrity/ICIJ publication in any media if the applicant is selected as a finalist or winner.