All entries must have been published, broadcast or televised in Australia in the period between April 27, 2021 to April 26, 2022. Eligibility for the Our Watch Award is based on independent acts of journalism, free from any commercial or corporate interests.
All entrants must certify that their entry, apart from normal sub editorial/production treatment, is their original work and that they have adhered to the MEAA Code of Ethics in the work preparation, undertake to continue to abide by the Code of Ethics and have complied with all copyright requirements. All entrants must be Australian citizens, permanent residents or journalists residing in Australia working for an Australian media outlet.
Entry is open to Australian journalists who have self-published, including blogs.
Self-published entrants should provide relevant URL links and where possible, verification of the work’s authenticity. If the entrant is verifying their own work, they must make this clear in their supporting statement.
All entries must declare any legal complaints, defamation actions, contempt of court actions, suppression orders, challenges to the accuracy, corrections or claims of plagiarism, relevant to the work at the time of entry.
Entrants must declare if the creation of the work involved payment for information or an interview.
Each entrant may enter only once. The exception is with joint or team entries. In this instance, you may submit up to two entries. That is: one single entry and one joint or team entry.
Joint or group entries may include up to five names, with one person nominated as the primary contact.
Team entries may include any number of people with the name of the team clearly stated. One person will be the primary contact for this entry, but all names and positions should be supplied on the entry form.
Books are not eligible to be entered into the Our Watch Award.
Entry is free for members of MEAA. The cost of entering the award for non-members is $50 including GST. For inquiries about MEAA membership, please contact members@meaa.org or call 1300 656 513.
Judges have the right to reject an entry that in their opinion does not comply with the requirements of the competition. The judges’ decision will be final.
To facilitate easy access for judging, entrants should place URLs outside any paywall. If that proves infeasible, the entry should provide a username and password for judges, plainly indicated in the supporting statement.
The entrant acknowledges that the Walkley Foundation and Our Watch may reproduce, broadcast and communicate materials submitted for the purpose of promoting the Award, conducting the presentation ceremony and making the finalists and winner entries available to the public and agrees and warrants that the Foundation may use the material for these purposes.
