Savvy reporters regularly review the notices published in their papers for a potential source of news about local government operations. Reporting on that information helps ensure that matters important to their communities — including, for example, zoning applications, development plans, foreclosure auctions or filings, government and corporate disposal of private property — receive the attention they deserve.
PNRC’s Michael Kramer Public Notice Journalism Award highlights the best newspaper reporting based on public notices. Started in 2014, the contest celebrates the reporters and editors who bring these important stories to life.
Here are the contest winners since 2014.
The 2024 competition will be administered by the National Newspaper Association Foundation as a category in NNAF’s Better Newspaper Contest. NNA members can submitted entries online by clicking this link; non-members can email their entries to NNA’s Lynne Lance at lynne@nna.org.
The category description and what judges will be looking for are noted below. Entries are free of charge and must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. on April 28, 2024.
2024 Michael Kramer Public Notice Journalism Award
This category is for a news story or series that highlights the impact of a public notice or the omission of a public notice, helps readers understand a public notice or explains the consequences of a public body’s failure to publish a notice in a newspaper, or the consequences of publishing a notice on a government website instead of a newspaper. A successful entry will usually result from the newsroom’s having read the public notices in the newspaper and recognizing a news hook or feature opportunity coming from the subject of a particular public notice. Stories should reference and/or provide a link to the notice; or if the story is based on a public notice requirement that was not met or was deficient, it must describe the deficiency. The category is not intended for editorials advocating for more public notice or opposing changes in public notice law.