Awards of Excellence

EPA’s annual contest spans two categories: the Awards of Excellence and Higher Goals.

Click here for the Awards of Excellence list of categories.
Click here for the Awards of Excellence entry instructions and entry portal.
Click here for Entry Tips for Awards of Excellence.

EPA’s Awards of Excellence competition honors overall excellence. Judges in this category review the entire publication in order to evaluate a number of criteria, including writing quality, content choices, imagery, and overall design. Members compete only against publications in their same category.

Each entry receives a completed critique sheet by a professional industry judge with one Award of Excellence granted to the best entry. One or more Awards of Merit may be bestowed on other top entries, at the discretion of the judges and contest officials.

There are two divisions: Traditional and Digital. Each member publication can enter only the Traditional or Digital Awards of Excellence division in which it is a member.

• Traditional is defined as a print or PDF-generated publication
• Digital is defined as a content-driven website

Print publication members have the option to hold a dual membership (Print and Digital) and, subsequently, may enter in both the Traditional and Digital divisions of the Awards of Excellence.

Note: Publications that produce only a PDF for a digital publishing platform (i.e., ISSUU) are considered Digital members, but they enter the Traditional division of the Awards of Excellence.

Submissions by Traditional members
Two consecutive issues must be submitted by mail for printed publications. PDF-only publications will upload PDF files or provide URLs for the digital publishing platform.

Submissions by Digital members
You will provide the URL for your content-driven website. Please double check that your link works so the judge has access to your content. Provide login access if your website requires.