Submit Your Best Education Reporting to 2025 EWA Awards

The Education Writers Association is pleased to announce the 2025 National Awards for Education Reporting. Journalists may submit entries from Nov. 13, 2025 to Jan. 7, 2026 at 6 p.m. Eastern. 

Journalists who published work in 2025 on any education topic in any medium are encouraged to enter EWA’s annual journalism contest, which honors the best education reporting across all news media. The awards program offers a total of 19 prizes, with cash awards ranging from $750 to $5,000.

EWA’s journalism competition aims to highlight the outstanding reporters working to illuminate what happens in classrooms, schools, colleges and universities, as well as uncover inequities and disparities in the system and highlight solutions.

Updated Awards Categories

This year, EWA has made some small changes to the awards categories. The news category has been replaced by the explanatory journalism category. Broadcast became its own category with news and features as subcategories.

Entry Fees and Deadlines

• Early Bird Discount: $75 for members and $125 for nonmembers to enter the awards until Dec. 17 at 6 p.m. Eastern. (Membership is free.)
• Regular Price: $125 for members and $175 for nonmembers to enter the awards until Jan. 7, 2026 at 6 p.m. Eastern. 
• The student journalism category is $25.
• Membership Deadlines: Apply for EWA membership by Dec. 4 to be eligible for the Early Bird Discount, or become a member by Dec. 15 to be eligible for the Regular Price membership discount.

EWA Awards Categories 

In the National Awards for Education Reporting, EWA plans to present 17 awards winners with $750 cash prizes in eight categories: beat reporting; broadcast, data reporting & visualization; explanatory journalism; feature; investigative reporting; podcast and student journalism.

One of the three beat reporting category winners will be eligible for the Ronald Moskowitz Prize for Outstanding Beat Reporting, which comes with an additional $2,500. Winners of the other categories and divisions will be considered for the Fred M. Hechinger Grand Prize for Distinguished Education Reporting. The grand prize comes with $5,000.

Entries will be judged on criteria that include the quality of writing and reporting, freshness and depth of insights, clarity of explanation, impact, and innovation of presentation.

For more information on the awards, visit EWA Awards or contact EWA at awards@ewa.org.

About the Education Writers Association 

The Education Writers Association (EWA.org) is the national professional organization dedicated to strengthening the community of education writers and improving the quality of education coverage to better inform the public. Member journalists benefit from the organization’s high-quality programs of training, information, support and recognition.