Guidelines and Rules

The International Journalism Olympiad is separated into two parts: Regional and International. The regional round is an essay competition, and the international round media submission competition to which the regional round finalists will be invited to compete.

Regional Essay Round
International Media Submission Round

Both are conducted entirely online. Top students from the regional round advance to the final international competition.

Regional Round (Article)

Regions are broken up into the following:

North America
South America & Caribbean
Europe, Russia & Central Asia
Middle East & Africa
South Asia & East Asia
Southeast Asia & Oceania

Submission Format

For the international round you will be pitched 3 different hotly debated issues that are being covered in today’s news. You will have to investigate all sides of the event presented and it will be your task to decipher and write a fair and balanced article crafting a narrative without bias or opinion.

These topics can range from corruption, wartime journalism, international policy, protests, and anything else that is newsworthy (see our Resources page for a sample article). You must:

Write a 1000-word editorial article in English.
Submit as a PDF, MLA-style citations required for all factual content.

Submit via our designated Typeform link.

Evaluation Criteria

Accuracy & Research
Facts matter. Show strong sourcing, verification, and logical consistency. In a world of misinformation and disinformation, this is perhaps the most important aspect of journalism.
Clarity & Structure
Your writing must be accessible, compelling, and well-organized. Avoid jargon, a person who reads your article shouldn’t have to read a supplemental piece to understand what you were trying to articulate.
Relevance & Insight
Ensure to stay on point and write intentionally, showcasing the details others may have overlooked.
Ethical Responsibility
Acknowledge your voice, your biases, and the stakes of what you're reporting, do your best to eliminate any biases altogether.
Style & Voice
Craft a compelling, readable, human-centered narrative. Journalism has the potential to be exciting literature, exploit that potential while remaining within the ethical framework.

International Round (Media)

The International Journalism Olympiad serves as the culminating round of the competition, inviting the highest-scoring participants from each regional division to contend at a global level. This prestigious final round moves beyond the written word and into the realm of multimedia journalism.

See our Resource List for examples.

Media Submission Format

Finalists will be tasked with producing a professional-grade piece of journalistic media. Written articles will not be accepted; instead, participants must craft a dynamic media submission in one of the following formats:

A short-form documentary or video reportage
A recorded or filmed interview (e.g., podcast, mock radio segment, or studio-style piece)
An explainer video segment (in the style of Vox or Vice Media)
A news montage or screen-recorded piece integrating archival footage, maps, graphics, and voiceover narration.

The submission should center around a newsworthy topic, local or global, and must be original, accurate, and compelling. Total runtime may not exceed 5 minutes.

What You Are Tasked With

Finalists must engage in independent journalism and demonstrate initiative, creativity, and clarity. Choose from one of the following broad approaches:

Investigate a Local Story
Conduct street interviews or engage community voices to uncover underreported realities, and possibly filming yourself narrating the story on location.
Create a Timeless Feature Piece
Select an enduring issue and approach it through a high-quality podcast or filmed dialogue. You may conduct and record an interview with a relevant subject matter expert, community member, or peer.
Produce a Global Explainer
Craft a concise, informative breakdown of a current global event or issue. Think in terms of data visualization, sound design, and narrative clarity, and see what would be a good story.
Build a Multimedia News Montage
Use screen recordings to compile and narrate clips, audio excerpts, visual data, and sourced media. Your goal is to weave a seamless, compelling story through the integration of different formats.

Your Objective

In a 5-minute submission, your media must effectively address the who, what, when, where, why, and how of a specific event, issue, or story. It should aim to educate, inform, and engage an intelligent audience while upholding the core journalistic principles of accuracy, fairness, and clarity.

Evaluation Criteria

Creativity & Originality
Great stories are everywhere. The best entries will unearth untold narratives and present them through a distinctive voice and inventive format.
Professional Quality
Judges, including international correspondents, newsroom editors, and documentary filmmakers, will be assessing your attention to detail. Editing, sound clarity, visual composition, and fact-checking all matter.
Depth of Reporting
Time is limited. The most successful entries will make use of every second to deliver a complete and succinct story. This includes background context, source attribution, and narrative arc.
Mastery of Medium
Journalists today work across platforms. Choose your format wisely and demonstrate skill in executing it. Whether you rely on visuals, interviews, or voiceover, your chosen medium should serve the story, not the other way around.

Purpose

This is your moment to become a creator of public understanding. The International Round challenges you to step into the role of a modern journalist, telling stories that matter through media that resonates. Use this opportunity to demonstrate not only technical competence, but editorial judgment, civic awareness, and artistic vision.

Top three winners will receive:

Feature publication
Personalized letters of recommendation

College consulting service credit

Anti-Plagiarism Policy

DO NOT PLAGIARIZE

We maintain a zero-tolerance policy on plagiarism. All entries are run through anti-plagiarism software and any flagged submissions will be disqualified. Journalism demands honesty, let that begin here.