Co-Founder & Executive Director of CCNow
Covering Climate Now (CCNow), a collaboration of journalists and newsrooms working together to improve climate coverage worldwide, invites entries from journalists from around the world for the 2024 Covering Climate Now Journalism Awards. Presented in collaboration with the Columbia Journalism Review, the 2024 entry is open to news organisations and journalists from anywhere in the world whose works have been published or broadcast in 2023.
Last year, the awards team received almost 1,100 entries from 29 countries on six continents with winners and finalists emerging from both big and small outlets. Now in its fourth edition, the awards celebrate achievements in global climate storytelling, setting the standard for excellence in climate journalism.
For the 2024 awards, CCNow has identified 14 subject-based categories to highlight specific and critical aspects of the climate story, such as solutions, justice, and health. The awards will celebrate multiple winners in each category, recognizing diverse styles, story lengths, outlet sizes, and geographic regions.
The 2024 Covering Climate Now Journalism Awards feature fourteen distinct categories, each highlighting critical aspects of climate storytelling. The 14 subject-based categories of the awards include:
- Solutions: Recognizing journalism that delves into climate crisis solutions and evaluates their effectiveness and justice.
- Justice: Focusing on the disproportionate impact of climate change on marginalized communities and the pursuit of climate justice.
- Fossil Fuels: Investigating the actions and influence of the fossil fuel industry.
- Extreme Weather and its Impacts: Exploring the link between extreme weather events and human-induced climate change.
- Politics, Policy, and Climate Action: Covering government actions, policies, and leadership concerning climate change.
- Activism and Movements: Highlighting various facets of climate activism and movements worldwide.
- Business and Economics: Examining the economic dimensions of climate change, including transitions to clean energy.
- Global Negotiations, including COP28: Covering international discussions and agreements on climate change.
- Conflict and Climate Change: Investigating the intersections of climate change and violent conflicts worldwide.
- Displacement and Migration: Exploring climate-induced displacement and migration, along with governmental responses.
- Forests, Oceans, and the Natural World: Examining the role of natural ecosystems in the climate crisis.
- Health: Investigating the health impacts of climate change, including mental health implications.
- Food and Agriculture: Analyzing the effects of climate change on food systems and agricultural practices.
- Climate in Every Beat: Creatively connecting climate change to various subjects like sports, arts, culture, gender, and education.
In addition to the subject-based categories, the judging panel will recognize several “Emerging Journalists of the Year,” acknowledging the exceptional promise shown by early-career journalists. Furthermore, a new “Large Projects and Collaborations” category will honor impactful collaborative efforts in climate journalism.
Submissions are open to journalists globally, including freelancers and representatives from both large and small news outlets. Entries can span across various mediums, including writing, audio, video, photography, multimedia, editorial cartoons, and data visualization. Journalistic styles ranging from breaking news to feature reporting, opinion/commentary, investigations, newsletters, and documentaries are all eligible.
A jury comprising journalists from across the globe, including past CCNow Journalism Award recipients, will select the winning entries and winners will be announced in June.
Journalists interested in submitting their work can apply at https://coveringclimatenow.awardsplatform.com/.
