The Categories Print, Online, Cross media and AI

The European Newspaper Award has print and online categories. There are also main prizes and Awards of Excellence. Throughout this Call for Entries, we have compiled examples of award winners from all categories. This should make it easier for participants to choose their own work. The jury also reserves the right to move work to other categories, as each piece of work should be given the best opportunity to be judged.

What changes are there compared to last year?

We have streamlined and slightly reduced the number of categories.

European Newspaper of the Year:

The main prize is awarded in four categories
– Local Newspaper
– regional newspaper
– nationwide newspaper
– weekly newspaper
– It is possible that the jury will also award main prizes for online-only projects.

Awards of Excellence Print categories:

1. cover and cover story
1.1 Local newspaper
1.2. regional newspaper
1.3. national newspaper
1.4. weekly newspaper

2. sectional front page
2.1. local newspaper
2.2. regional newspaper
2.3. national newspaper
2.4. weekly newspaper

3. news pages print
3.0. refugees
3.1. terror, war (Ukraine war)
3.2. natural disasters
3.3. environmental protection
3.4. elections (local, regional, national, Europe)
3.5. celebrity deaths
3.6. Winter Olympics
3.7. FIFA World Cup

4. photography
4.0. photographic series
4.1. portrait
4.2. image editing
4.3. sequence
4.4. atmosphere
4.5. perspective
4.6. picture page

5. photo reportage

6. visualisation

7. visual storytelling, alternative storytelling

8. infographics print
8.0. infographics
8.1. small infographics
8.2. infographics with emphasis on maps

9. illustration

10. Supplements, special editions
10.0. Weekend supplements (print or e-paper)
10.1. Supplements for special occasions, special editions and anniversary editions

11. Special pages

12. New series, new concepts

12.1. Impact Print

13.0. Magazine supplements
13.1. Magazines overall
13.2 Magazine covers
13.3 Magazine covers and cover stories
13.4. Magazine photography
13.5. Magazine illustration
13.6. Magazine typography · layout

Awards of Excellence online categories:

14. Multimedia storytelling

14.1. Online photo reports

15. Films, animated films

16. Cross-media projects

17. Online infographics, animated infographics

18. Data journalism

19. Podcasts

20. AI projects

21. Impact online

Sorting into categories
The jury is always looking for the best category for each work. Therefore, it happens that works are sorted into other categories.

Student work
Student work can be entered in all categories.

Local pages
Local pages can participate in all categories. There is no separate category for them.

Submission details · timetable

The competition is hosted by newspaper designer Norbert Küpper since its foundation in 1998. In the media, the competition is also referred to as the „Oscar of the newspaper industry“.

All submissions are made online via the Upload Centre.

Entries must have been published between 1 November 2025 and 15 November 2026.

Deadlines, timetable
– Start of the submission period: 1 October.
– Early bird deadline to be announced.
– Standard deadline to be announced.
– Late deadline to be announced.
– Notification of award winners: 2027, by email to the respective contact person.

Main prizes

The main prize will be awarded in four categories
– local newspaper
– regional newspaper
– national newspaper
– weekly newspaper
The main prize is awarded for concept and design. The interaction of print and online plays an increasing role. It is possible that the jury will also award main prizes for online-only or AI projects.

Two complete newspapers
The jury requires two complete newspapers as pdf from the following period:

Daily newspapers: Saturday, 26.9.2026 and Wednesday, 30.9.2026
Special editions, anniversary editions are not allowed here! If your newspaper does not appear on Saturday, send a Friday edition.

Weekly newspapers: Two different copies. The two newspapers must have been published between 1 November 2025 and 15 November 2026.
Special editions, anniversary editions are not allowed here!

Online submissions only: We do not need PDFs of newspapers.

Awards of Excellence

– 4 entries are allowed in each category and sub-category. These are, for example, 4 front pages, 4 photo reports, 4 infographics, 4 cross-media projects, 4 data journalism projects, etc.
– Awards of Excellence are given in different categories for print, online, cross-media, and AI.
– Submissions must have been published between 1 November 2025 and 15 November 2026.
– Entries must be submitted in pdf format. The captioning must be done according to the categories.

Participation fees

– The fee is charged per newspaper title. Example: Die Welt, Welt am Sonntag, Welt am Sonntag kompakt are three newspaper titles, thus three entry fees.
– A maximum of 4 entries can be made in each print category and also in each print sub-category. That is more than 150 submissions with a single fee.

Early bird: Fee €290

Regular: Fee €390

Late: Fee €490

– Deadline: Arrival of the submission at the Upload Centre.

– Student works pay half the regular charge.

Request invoice

– In order to be able to write an invoice, we need the exact company address. If in doubt, ask your accountant for the correct address.

– If you register in the upload centre, you will also enter an invoice address there. We will then send the invoice automatically.

– It is also possible to request an invoice by e-mail: nkuepper@newspaperaward.org.

– After you have requested an invoice, you will receive it by e-mail, usually within 24 hours. The amount must be received by 31 December.

– If the entry fee is not paid, the participating newspaper will be disqualified.

– If you have any questions, please contact us: nkuepper@newspaperaward.org

Naming of the pdf’s in print and online categories

The naming will start with the category number, followed by the competition number, then the name of the newspaper. The submissions are presented to the jury in alphabetical order. Therefore, the correct newspaper name is important. Abbreviations, internal names, etc. are not permitted.

1.

Two obligatory issues
Two complete newspapers must be submitted as a pdf. It is best to use the epaper edition of your newspaper. One page will then be less than 1 MB in size. These two issues can be saved as single pages or in a single Pdf.

If you participate exclusively in online categories, no pdfs of the print newspaper need to be submitted.

2.

Print categories
Work in all categories is submitted as pdfs. Sort the pages into the categories of the competition and name each pdf correctly as shown here. Do not submit the same work in different categories.

Online categories
Each submission gets its own pdf document. It is not allowed to collect different online submissions in one document.

3.

Print categories 1 – 12
No multi-page pdfs! Left and right pages must be made into double pages. This is done either during the production of the pdf or in the software Photoshop.
Attention: In Adobe Reader no real double pages can be created! Please follow the instructions in this Call for Entries!

Explanations to individual pages only if necessary and as a note within the pdf. It can be helpful, for example, to translate the title and the introduction into English so that the jury recognises the topic. The Google Translator is very helpful here.

How to create double pages

Double pages must be created as such. This is done either during the production of the pdf or in the Photoshop software. With Photoshop, left and right pages are assembled into a double page. It is not possible to create real double pages in the Adobe Acrobat software!

This is how the creation of a double-page spread looks in Photoshop. Load the pdf into Photoshop and merge the left and right pages into a single document.

How to participate in online categories

We would like to treat all projects equally and present all submissions to the jury in the same style. Therefore, please follow the rules listed here as closely as possible. Please use the upload centre for submission: upload.newspaperaward.org

1.

Create a vertical format document in DIN A 4 format for each project.

2.

Specify the category.

3.

Name of the newspaper.

4.

Email of the contact person

5.

Description of the project in English.

6.

Give a link that works! Shorten long strings with www.tinyurl.com. Check the link in the finished pdf!

7.

Paywall: Give us access data for six accesses. Put the access data directly to the link. Valid until 31 January. If you need names and emails of the jury members, write an email to nkuepper@newspaperaward.org

8.

A screenshot must show the start page of the project. Also include screenshots of inside pages.

Do you have questions about the submission? Email to nkuepper@newspaperaward.org

Naming of the pdf’s in print and online categories

The naming will start with the category number, followed by the competition number, then the name of the newspaper. The submissions are presented to the jury in alphabetical order. Therefore, the correct newspaper name is important. Abbreviations, internal names, etc. are not permitted.

Upload submissions in the Upload Centre

Upload entries in the 20 categories and two complete newspapers as a pdf in the Upload Centre.

1.

Use the Upload Center: Upload Center

2.

Create an account and enter the required information.

3.

If you have an account from the previous year, you can register again. We can also send you a new password.

4.

Do not send your submissions as individual pdf files, but put all submissions together in a single folder and zip the files. Then upload. Up to 600 MB can be done in one upload. If you have more data, just do a second upload. Film files can also be uploaded in this way.

Corrections to submissions

Files that have been uploaded can no longer be changed. If you want to add something, you can make another upload. If necessary, you can also completely re-upload the data. We will then delete the old files.

Main awards: European Newspaper of the Year

In order to be able to decide on the main awards, the jury needs two complete newspapers from specific days of issue as pdf files. The main awards are judged on concept and design. The interaction between print and online also plays an increasingly important role. Information on print circulation and online user figures are therefore also important. This information is provided during the registration process in the Upload Centre.

The European Newspaper Award has always distinguished between local newspaper, regional newspaper, nationwide newspaper and weekly newspaper, because these newspaper categories have different contents and resources that should be taken into account. For example, there are local newspapers that have very few editors and layouters but still make an outstanding product.

Here are a few examples of main award winners from previous years:

Local newspaper

27th European Newspaper of the Year Awards, Local Newspaper category: La Provincia, Spain.

Regional newspaper

27th competition, European Newspaper of the Year, Regional Newspaper category: No award was presented in this category.

Nationwide newspaper

27th competition, European Newspaper of the Year, NationwideNewspaper category: Público, Portugal

Weekly newspaper

27th Competition, European Newspaper of the Year, Weekly Newspaper Category: H Kathimerini, Greece

Judges’s Special Recognition

The jury awards special prizes for particularly outstanding projects in individual categories: Judges‘ Special Recognition. This award stands between the main prizes and the Awards of Excellence. Here are a few examples.

Crossmedia: de Volkskrant

The newspaper was awarded a Judges‘ Special Recognition for a cross-media project.

Podcasts: Hamburger Abendblatt

The newspaper was awarded a Judges‘ Special Recognition for its creative diversity in podcasts.

Judges’ Special Recognition

21st Competition, Judges‘ Special Recognition for the Fuldaer Zeitung. This special award is slightly below the main award. In the case of the Fuldaer Zeitung, the decisive factor was the newspaper’s conversion to a strongly visual design. The Fuldaer Zeitung is published in Berlin format and has a circulation of about 37,000 copies. An art director was hired specifically to be able to implement the new concept.