Better Newspapers Competition (BNC) Awards of Excellence

The Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association encourages excellence by sponsoring an annual provincial competition to celebrate the achievements of its member newspapers. Newspapers compete against other newspapers of similar circulation for special awards in such categories as editorial, photography, advertising and special promotion.

Deadline for Entries: January 31, 2020 - 10:00 pm

Entry eligibility is for material that appeared in print from January 1, 2019 – December 31, 2019.
Download the Entry Brochure (PDF 296kb) for complete list of categories and instructions
Eligibility

The Better Newspaper Competition - Awards of Excellence is open to AWNA members only. 

Entry Fees

There are no entry fees, however, newspapers entering must be AWNA members in good standing.

BNC Awards of Excellence Categories
  • Arts and Culture Award
  • Excellence in Creative Advertising
  • Effective and Original Use of Colour in Advertising
  • Best Habitat Conservation Story (Ducks Unlimited Canada Award)
  • Sports Writing Award
  • Healthy Communities Journalism Award  (

    Genome Alberta Award)

  • Environmental Writing Award
  • Agricultural Supplement or Section (

    Genome Alberta Award)
  • Sue Gawlak Best Local Editorial (sponsored by the St.  Albert Gazette) 
  • The Higher Education Writing Award (University of Alberta Award)
  • Ad Campaign Award
  • Education Writing Award (Lethbridge College Award)
  • Best Local News Story 
  • Best Feature Story By a Local Writer
  • Best Feature Column by a Local Writer (Gordon Scott Memorial Award)
  • Special Supplement or Section (

    Metro Creative Graphics Award)

How To Enter

We're using the same contest entry service that was used last year at the Better Newspaper Contest Website. Instructions on how to log in and manage your account are in the downloadable Brochure.    Contact Maurizia for more information. 

Guidelines

The BNC competition requires entrants to follow certain guidelines when sending their entries to the contest organizers.

  • ONE entry per category.
  • DO NOT SUBMIT THE SAME ENTRY IN MORE THAN ONE CATEGORY. This includes articles, photos or ads that have been entered as part of a series or campaign. You may, however submit stories, photos or ads into a stand-alone category if they also appear in a section that has been entered in the Special Sections category. 
  • If your entry contains jumps, you should combine your entry into one multiple-page PDF file. Two-page spreads are allowable up to 2 MB. Or you may upload up to five (5) separate PDFs. Please make sure that the order in which they should be read is very clear in the naming structure.
  • Judges' decisions are final.
2018 Awards of Excellence
Presented May 31, 2019 in Red Deer Alberta at the Friday evening Awards Banquet
2017 Awards of Excellence
2017 Awards of Excellence were presented in Calgary, June 2018
2016 Awards of ExcellenceThursday, June 1, 2017
2016 Awards of Excellence were presented in Calgary, June 2017
2015 Awards of Excellence
2015 BNC Awards of Excellence Winners Presented May 2016
2014 Awards of ExcellenceMonday, June 15, 2015
2014 Awards of Excellence were presented in Edmonton, June 2015
2013 Award Winners
2013 Awards of Excellence were presented in Calgary, June 2014
2012 Award Winners
2012 Awards of Excellence were presented in Edmonton, June 2013
2011 Award Winners
2011 BNC Awards of Excellence Winners Presented May 2012
2010 Award Winners
2010 Award Winners Presented May 2012
2010 Award Winners II
2009 Award Winners
2008 Award Winners
2007 Award Winners
2006 Award Winners
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