The Jewish Scholastic Press Association is pleased to announce the 2026 Jewish Scholastic Journalism Awards, to be presented in March.
Honoring work published during calendar year 2025, JSPA will award a first-, second- and third-place certificate in each of 13 categories. First-place winners will receive a commemorative plaque.
A Grand Prize in Jewish Scholastic Journalism will then be selected from among the first-place winners. The winner or winners of the Grand Prize will be awarded a personal recommendation from the American Jewish Press Association for a journalism internship at an AJPA member publication of their choice.
Winning entries will be published on the JSPA website. By entering the contest, you agree to this republication.
Please be careful to follow journalism best practices, and do not submit first-person or opinion articles in the news and feature categories.
Entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on Feb. 22, 2026. Click here to see last year's winners.
If you have questions about entries or payment, please contact staff@jspa.us.
2026 JEWISH SCHOLASTIC JOURNALISM AWARDS
CONTEST CATEGORIES
- Category 1: News reporting on Jewish communities, religion, education, institutions, activism, culture, challenges, leaders or personalities. NOTE: First-person and/or opinion articles will not be accepted in this category.
- Category 2: Feature reporting on Jewish communities, religion, education, institutions, activism, culture, challenges, leaders or personalities.
- Category 3: News and feature reporting on current events involving Israel. NOTE: First-person and/or opinion articles will not be accepted in this category.
- Category 4: News or feature reporting on interreligious or intercultural activism or events. NOTE: First-person and/or opinion articles will not be accepted in this category.
- Category 5: Ongoing reporting on any subject in Category 1, 2, 3 or 4. Ongoing reporting means at least two stories on two different days, covering a story that is evolving with additional facts or occurrences. NOTE: First-person and/or opinion articles will not be accepted in this category.
- Category 6: Opinion: Non-first-person opinion on any Jewish or Israel-related story. This category would encompass unsigned editorials.
- Category 7: Opinion: First-person opinion or first-person experience regarding Judaism, Jewish culture or identity, Israel, or any Jewish or Israel-related story.
- Category 8: Photojournalism: Photograph attached to any Jewish or Israel-related story.
- Category 9: Layout, design, illustration or infographic attached to any Jewish or Israel-related story, one page or multiple pages.
- Category 10: Video or podcast reporting of any Jewish or Israel-related story. NOTE: First-person and/or opinion reports will not be accepted in this category.
- NEW: Category 11. Social Media Reporting. Ongoing use of social media to report stories that include Jewish and/or Israel-related news or features published on Instagram, TikTok, X, BlueSky and-or other social media platforms.
Please see the Category entry page for instructions on what to submit.
- Category 12: Any Jewish or Israel-related news or feature story by a high school student published in a regularly appearing, professional (non-school) publication, in print or onlne. NOTE: First-person and/or opinion articles will not be accepted in this category.
- Category 13: Any Jewish- or Israel-related opinion story by a high school student appearing in a regularly appearing, professional (non-school) publication, in print or online.
ELIGIBILITY: All submissions must have been published between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2025. Except for Categories 12 and 13, they must be the work of high school students and published in an ongoing school news publication in print or online. Categories 12 and 13 are for student work published in ongoing professional news publications, excluding social media and blog posts.
Work that is bylined with teachers as co-authors will not be considered.
DEADLINE: Entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time Feb. 22, 2026.
SUBMISSION: All entries, including those published in print only, must be submitted electronically. Entries published online should be entered as URLs on the entry form. Entries published only in print may be submitted as PDFs or photographs of the print pages.
Entries submitted as text only (in Microsoft Word, Google Docs or other word processing software) will not be considered.
LIMIT: There is a limit of five entries per category per publication. Entries that are eligible for consideration in multiple categories may be submitted to each qualifying category.
PAYMENT: Entries are $5 each.
Advisers or staff submitting work from a JSPA member publication may submit up to 25 from that publication for no charge. Individual members may submit up to 5 entries for no charge. Advisers of member publications will receive a discount code via email to be used at checkout. Please contact staff@jspa.us if you have not received your code by Feb. 17, 2026.
JSPA school membership is $150 for 2025-26, covers all publications and students at the member school, and includes discounted access to JSPA programming for one year.
To sign up for JSPA membership, please click here.
Payment is via Paypal or credit card at the end of this contest form.
If you have questions about entries or payment, please contact staff@jspa.us