74th Annual Real Estate Journalism Competition

Online Entry Instructions

Questions And Technical Support

Entry Deadline: March 1, 2024 11:59 PM EST (deadline will not be extended)

The cost is $75 for the first entry which also includes 2024 NAREE membership dues, and $25 for each additional entry.

Members entering the contest: If you have already paid your 2024 dues you will need to email the NAREE office to get your coupon code so you will not be charged the $75 fee. If you haven’t yet paid 2024 dues, it’s faster in February (a one-step process) for members to use the journalism contest entry module for everything. Use the j-contest module and avoid the three-step process of paying dues under the “Join/Renew” tab, and then asking for a coupon code and entering the contest.

If you are not a NAREE 2024 member, your $75 processing fee entitles you to 2024 membership in NAREE.

Enter a new submission

Eligibility - Short Checklist

Who Is Eligible to Enter NAREE’s Journalism Contest?

Entrants must be independent journalists working for the news division of independent news outlets.
Active members shall have as their principal occupation the reporting, transmitting or editing of information about real estate and/or housing for a news media that is independent of a sponsoring organization or advertising control. (Principal occupation means more than 50 percent of their time.)

What are the Contest Deadlines?

Submission Requirements

Please have all attached files, links and summaries ready before initiating the entry submission process. Files must not be larger than 100 MB. Accepted formats: PDF, MP3 and MP4. If you are entering a category that requires 3 pieces of work such as Categories #2 or #3 "Best Collection of Work" consolidate the three pieces into a single PDF or link, if possible.

Judges prefer PDFs whenever possible since link errors occur more frequently than you think and slow down the judging process. Faulty links may be due to entrant error or developer changes. Sometimes user name and passwords to links expire after multiple clicks or before the contest judging is complete. Some links to websites take the user to the live site instead of the work entered in 2024 but produced in 2023.

Entrants may submit only one (1) entry per category, but may enter as many categories as they choose after determining eligibility. Click here to see all categories.

Competition judges reserve the right to decide if an entry is in the proper category, and to move those they determine need reassignment as well as not to make awards in a particular category.

Writers may enter their own work in any category. An entry entered in any of the individual categories may also be used as one of the three entries in the Best Collection of Work categories, but you must submit this piece both in the "Best Collection" category 2 or category 3 and the other category of your choice. In other words, every time you want to enter that same story, you need to send in a PDF (preferred) or include a link of that story for that particular category.

Editors must enter the work of each individual staff reporter and/or freelancer with an individual byline by paying the processing fee (membership fee) for that staff member or freelancer associated with that byline. If an editor is entering work with a joint or multiple byline (and the editor’s name is not on that byline), the editor must pay the processing fee (membership fee) for at least one bylined member of the team.

Editors must enter their own bylined work in any eligible individual category under their own membership or processing fee.

Editors must enter a print or digital newspaper section, magazine, newsletter or Web site under their own membership or processing fee.

Each completed entry in each category must include:

1. Entry Fees

Paid 2024 NAREE Members: First entry is free. Second entry and each additional entry is $25.

Non members - $75 processing fee for the first entry. Second entry and each additional entry is $25. Processing fee includes membership.

2. Entry Form

Each line must be completed on the form. (Entry may be disqualified if lines are skipped.)

3. Summary

Attach a brief summary (no more than 150 words ) describing the intended audience for the publication, Web site or broadcast. Explain why the entry serves the target audience, what is original about the story idea/content, why the reporting is innovative, and if applicable, how a creative risk was taken. If social media was used, please explain why it was significant. Note: judges request summaries be included for each entry because they rely on them for context. Please enter your paywall password at the end of the summary.

4. Entry

Submit at least one PDF, MP3, MP4 or link.

Include passwords for all entry links behind a paywall in the summary field. Make sure the paywall password doesn't expire until December 31, 2024, and can be used multiple times. Remember, if the judges can’t open it, they can’t judge it. So if you experience paywall issues, or expect a code to change, it’s safer to upload PDFs. Paywall passwords do not count as part of the 150 words in the summary.

Tip for uploading links: if you are experience trouble uploading links, please refresh your screen or quit and re-start your browser and try again.

Categories 2, 3, and 21 require more than one work sample to be judged. Category 20 can include a single investigative report or all parts of an investigative series. Please make a single PDF for all of the work to be judged as a single entry. You may also upload a single link with all three samples, rather than 3 separate links which require three times the time to open.

Best Web site Entry - category #29, include a URL, username, and password for access to view in the summary. Judging criteria will include editorial content, design, and ease of use. Passwords to open all links must not expire until December 31, 2024 and must allow judges to use it multiple times.

Freelance journalists with one entry only, please note:

If you are a freelancer with a single entry for this contest in any of the categories requiring a single piece of work and you also want to enter that piece in the Best Freelance Collection (which does not require an extra fee):

  1. Create a PDF or a link containing ALL 3 (three) pieces of work required for Best Freelance Collection. Position the piece you want judged in the individual category first, then add the other two pieces.
  2. Upload the PDF or specify the link in any one of these categories for individual journalists: 2-22. Work submitted in category 1, can only be submitted in category 1 and will not be considered for Best Freelance Collection.
  3. At the end of your summary, please confirm by headline that the first piece is the entry to be judged in the category and indicate by headlines that the second and third pieces of work are in this category only to be judged as part of the "BEST Freelance Collection" – which requires THREE work samples. If you enter a category that requires three work samples such as Best Collection (Categories 2 and 3), simply check the box indicating you want this entry judged for Best Freelance Collection. Please check the box only once.

Judging

The competition is slated to be judged by journalism faculty of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Judges will be the sole arbiters of the awards. Judges may choose not to bestow an award in a particular category. Judges will consider criteria appropriate to the category including, but not limited to:

"Best Section," "Best Magazine," "Best Web site," and "Best Newsletter" entries will be judged on overall graphics presentation and use of graphic elements to help communicate the message to the readers.