Freelance Journalism Awards 2025!
Now open for entries so what are you waiting for
Discover how Synapse can help you find stories and build meaningful relationships with PRs.
It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for! The Freelance Journalism Awards are back for 2025. It will be the third year of the ONLY awards celebrating the work of freelance journalists based in the UK.
There are a few changes this year. We have consolidated some categories based on what has proven to be most popular. And we’re giving you longer to enter so there is no excuse to gather your best work together and show us what you’ve got.
This year’s deadline will be midnight on the 29th of August. As always it is FREE to enter the awards and you can enter as many of the six categories as you like. However you can only enter each category once. For example you can only enter one story into the Best News Story category.
We will shortlist before handing over to a panel of industry judges (all freelance journalists / editors of course) to decide the winner.
The winners will be announced via this newsletter and our social media channels in October. There will be a £100 prize for each category winner as well as a trophy and an invitation onto our podcast for a special awards series.
All we ask is that you please read the criteria for each category carefully as they do vary a little. The awards are open to anyone based in the UK (your main residence needs to be here) but you can freelance for overseas media outlets. Any entry needs to have been produced in a freelance capacity and must have been produced between 6th April 2024 and 5th April 2025 (we will check).
This year’s categories are:
Best Specialist Journalist
This category is for freelance journalists working in a particular specialism, such as health, travel or finance. The content can be in any media (print, online, broadcasting). You can provide up to three pieces of work.
Best News Story - Sponsored by Paydesk
This category is for an individual piece of freelance work. The news story may be print, online or broadcast.
Best Feature - Sponsored by the NUJ London Freelance Branch
Always the most popular for entries, again this is for an individual piece of work that can be print, online or broadcast and as with all categories it must have been produced on a freelance basis.
Best Investigation - Sponsored by the NUJ London Freelance Branch
What have you uncovered in the past year? Have you been on an FOI blitz, got an insider to divulge some key information or gained the trust of a marginalised group. This one is also for an individual investigation across print, broadcast or online.
Best Opinion Writer or Columnist
This category was new last year and proved very popular. We’re looking for individuals who write regular opinion pieces or columns for print or online. The work must have been produced on a freelance basis and can include first person pieces.
Best Piece of Work by a Student or Early Career Journalist - Sponsored by Women in Journalism
This is for those in the first two years of their freelance career. Select your best piece of work and send it in!
To enter you simply fill out this form - paying careful attention to what we’re asking for each category. Any questions email us at freelancingforjournalists@gmail.com. If you want to look at previous finalists you can see 2023 here and last year’s winners here.
These awards are dedicated to highlighting the essential contributions of freelance journalists and as ever, a huge thank you to our sponsors who are helping us shine a spotlight on the high quality work being produced by freelance journalists in the UK. So come and show us what you’ve got!
Triumph of the week
Sending out more than 200 FOI emails!
That feeling when
An editor publishes a piece with no corrections or queries
We love to hear your feedback on everything we do, so feel free to drop us an email anytime at freelancingforjournalists@gmail.com
Bye for now!
