SFJ’s 2026 Excellence-in-Features contest is open for submissions!
The Society for Features Journalism is thrilled to announce that our 2026 Excellence-in-Features contest is now open for submissions! The annual contest celebrates the craft of storytelling in a variety of formats.
Entry costs are split into two tiers:
Early-bird submissions: Feb. 2 through March 2, 2026, cost per entry is $50.
Regular submissions: March 3 through March 17, 2026, cost per entry is $60.
All entries must have been published in print or online between Jan. 1, 2025 and Dec. 31, 2025. You can log in to the BetterNewspaperContest.com and scroll to find the 2026 Society for Features Journalism Excellence-in-Features Awards. Please use a Chrome browser.
Below are our division descriptions:
DIVISION 1: Newspapers with 50 or fewer full-time editorial employees or magazines and web-only publications with a local-city-metro area focus.
DIVISION 2: Newspapers with between 51 to 200 full-time editorial employees or magazines and web-only publications with a regional or statewide focus.
DIVISION 3: Newspapers with 201 or more full-time editorial employees or magazines and web-only publications with a national or international focus.
If you have questions about the contest divisions or categories, email our contest administrator at SFJcontest4@gmail.com.
SFJ 2026 contest categories
CATEGORIES FOR EACH DIVISION
GENERAL FEATURE, 2,500+ WORDS: This category will celebrate longform storytelling at its finest. Entries must be at least 2,500 words; no world limit after that. Feature topics can be arts and entertainment, lifestyle or news. Food features should be entered in the Food Feature category.
GENERAL FEATURE, 1,000-2,499 WORDS: This category will highlight top-notch feature storytelling between 1,000 and 2,499 words. Feature topics can be A&E, lifestyle or news. Food features should be entered in the Food Feature category.
GENERAL FEATURE, 999 WORDS OR FEWER: This category will honor excellence in short feature writing, so please share your best examples of tight, bright writing of fewer than 1,000 words. Feature topics can be A&E, lifestyle or news. Food features should be entered in the Food Feature category.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT FEATURE: A single story feature treatment of an arts and entertainment topic.
FOOD FEATURE: A single story focusing on food, not including reviews or commentary. Can be a trend story, personality profile, narrative piece, how-to or other feature treatment of a food topic.
FOOD CRITICISM: A single story, such as a restaurant review, that offers opinions about a topic or restaurant in the food industry.
FEATURES SERIES OR PROJECT: Feature treatment of any lifestyle, A&E or news topic that has multiple parts.
NARRATIVE STORYTELLING: A single story told in a narrative style, using techniques such as character development, use of dialogue, sense of place, scene building, narrative arc and adherence to a theme.
FEATURES BEAT WRITING PORTFOLIO: Three stories by the same writer on one features specialty topic, such as arts and entertainment, fashion, food, health, religion, technology or travel.
FOOD WRITING PORTFOLIO: Three stories, columns or reviews by the same writer on any food topic.
GENERAL COMMENTARY PORTFOLIO: A collection of three columns or essays by the same writer on any human interest or specialty topic, excluding editorials.
ARTS & CULTURE CRITICISM PORTFOLIO: A collection of three columns, essays or reviews by the same writer on any arts, entertainment or culture topic, including dining reviews but excluding editorials.
SPORTS FEATURE: A single story feature treatment of any sports topic.
SPECIAL PRODUCT, DIGITAL OR PRINT: The best example of anything outside regular coverage. Could be a one-time publication or published more often, but not a recurring weekly product. A weekly entertainment tab does not qualify, for example, but a once-a-year dining guide or quarterly travel magazine may be entered.
FIRST-PERSON NARRATIVE/ESSAY: A single story written as an essay or in the first-person point of view that demonstrates a sense of proportion and perspective.
FEATURE WRITING PORTFOLIO: Three stories by the same writer that can be a combination of any beats.
INCLUSION AND REPRESENTATION IN FEATURES: The coverage of any lifestyle or culture topic that centers on historically marginalized or under-covered communities through revelatory storytelling. Such community identities can be at (and are not limited to) any intersection of the following: race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs or other ideologies, or any identity with lesser power. An entry can be a single story, a series, a multimedia package or any combination thereof. Multiple bylines accepted. An entry should check most of the following points:
The story is produced for a community, not about it.
There is a strong voice or point of view.
There are elements of intentionality, compassion and empathy.
There is a challenging of assumptions and biases.
There is a sense of celebration and/or sharing of our journalistic platform.
There is a sense of urgency.
There is a portrait of the human experience.
COMBINED DIVISION CATEGORIES (all entries compete in the same category regardless of contest division)
PODCAST — NARRATIVE: An audio story on a lifestyle or culture topic using narrative techniques that include, but are not limited to, character development, narrative arc and a sense of place. All entries consist of three episodes.
NARRATIVE VIDEO: A single video of no longer than 5 minutes on a lifestyle or cultural topic that embodies the narrative style, using techniques such as character development, use of dialogue, sense of place and narrative arc.
SOCIAL MEDIA PORTFOLIO: This award recognizes great storytelling published on news organizations’ social media platforms using elements such as video, audio, graphics, photography and more. Please submit three examples from platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and others.
