It’s that time of year again! Leaves are changing color, temperatures are dropping, and OWAA’s Excellence in Craft Contest is open! Enter your work in the 2025 Excellence in Craft Contest today.
If it is your first time hearing about OWAA’s Excellence in Craft Awards, we invite you to take a look at last year’s winners. You can find their work here, or keep an eye out in the Fall 2024 edition of Outdoors Unlimited.
The Outdoor Writers Association of America annually recognizes exceptional work in outdoor journalism through its Excellence In Craft Awards. The 2025 contest opened for entries on Nov. 1, 2024.
Interested in how to submit? Check out the guidelines below and link to the rules for submission! Guidelines and category rules will also be posted on OWAA’s Submittable homepage under EIC Contest.
Entry Process
The EIC Contest is open to all OWAA individual members in good standing (i.e. your membership dues are current) and will award first-, second- and third-place winners in several Media Categories like Blog, Book, Column, Graphic/Illustration, Magazine/E-zine, Newspaper/News Website, Photography, Photo Essay, Radio/Podcast, TV/Video/Webcast, and Open Category.
All entries must be related to the outdoors, published either in traditional media or online, as a professional effort, meaning the member has received direct payment or otherwise derived income through advertising or other sponsorship related to the published entry.
All entries must be published, broadcast, or sold during the contest period — Jan. 1, 2024 through Dec. 31, 2024, except for the Book Contest which is for works published between Dec. 1, 2022 through Nov. 30, 2024.
Entries in all contest categories can be submitted beginning Nov. 1, 2024. The final deadline for the Book Contest is Dec. 1, 2024. The early bird deadline for all other entries is January 15th, 2025. The final deadline for all other entries is January 31st, 2025.
The entry process for the 2025 EIC Contest is managed through a partnership with Submittable, an OWAA Supporting Group that specializes in on-line contest submissions. All entries must be submitted online through Submittable, except for Book entries, which must be mailed to OWAA EIC Contest, c/o Chez Chesak, 3420 Lyleburn Pl, Cincinnati OH 45220 with a postmark no later than midnight EST Dec. 1, 2024.
First time using Submittable or need a refresher? Visit https://submittable.help/en/articles/904856-how-do-i-submit for help setting up an account.
To avoid confusion and extra work for OWAA staff and volunteers, members must enter only their OWN work through their individual Submittable account.
To begin submitting online entries, go to https://owaa.submittable.com/signup to create a FREE Submittable account, which allows you access to EIC entry forms. Each Media Category has its own entry form.
The entry deadline is midnight EST, Jan. 31, 2025 for all Media Categories except the Book Contest in which entries must be postmarked no later than midnight EST Dec. 1, 2024.
The entry fee for all contests is $15 per submission. (Please see below for more information about the general rules.)
General Rules
Click here to view the full list of Excellence in Craft Contest rules.
Prizes
Cash prizes and certificates are awarded to the top three entries in each category/topic, except where there are only three entries. In such a situation, only first and second place will be awarded. Judges have the discretion to award honorable mentions. If no prizes are awarded in a contest due to insufficient entries (two or less), entry fees will be reimbursed to participants.
Prize money for award winners is based on a combination of entry fees and sponsorship donations.
Prize money may be donated back to OWAA if the winner so chooses. Thank you!
Special Thanks
Thanks to Friesens Publishing and Pew Charitable Trusts for their sponsorship of the 2024 EIC Contest. The support of brands like these is critical to help keep this program running year after year and provides additional prize money for category winners.