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Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Newspapers:
How the Winners Are Chosen


Selecting a winner of the Taylor Fairness Award is a two-step process: First, newspapers and individuals send in nominations that, in their opinion, meet the highest standards of fairness. Then the members of the Taylor Fairness Award Jury review the nominations and choose the winner and finalists.

In evaluating work that might be a candidate for the award, submitters should consider all aspects of the journalistic process: reporting, writing, editing, headlines, photographs and illustrations, and presentation. Nominations may be a single story, a photograph, an editorial or a commentary; a series of stories, photographs, editorials or commentaries; or a body of work by an individual journalist.

The guidelines for the Taylor Fairness Award do not offer a definition of fairness. This is deliberate, recognizing that elements of fairness in journalism are diverse and do not easily lend themselves to a precise definition for a journalism competition.

There are many ways to define work that can be held up as an example of fairness, so it is very important that the letter sent with the nomination explain clearly why the entry is an exemplary example of fairness in newspapers and how the work was developed, reported and presented to readers in the context of fairness.

Winners and finalists


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