Pulitzer Prizes to require electronic entries

The Pulitzer Prize Board said Wednesday that entries in the 14 journalism categories for the 2012 competition must be submitted electronically.

Entries were previously submitted on paper in the form of a scrapbook.

"All entry material, ranging from stories to photographs, graphics and video, must now be submitted in a digital form through a special Pulitzer entry site," the board said in a statement.

"The new system will streamline the submission process for entries, which number about 1,100 a year, and will make it easier for Pulitzer journalism jurors and the Pulitzer Board to manage and judge the entries," it said.

The deadline for the 2012 prizes, which cover work during the 2011 calendar year, is January 25, 2012.

The board said the electronic submissions requirement does not apply to the book, drama and music prize categories.

The Pulitzer Prizes were first awarded in 1917 and are administered at Columbia University.

Online content from newspaper websites has been permitted in all journalism categories since 2006 but online-only publications were only allowed to submit entries in two categories until the rules were changed for the 2009 prizes.

Among the journalism prize categories are local reporting of breaking news, commentary, feature writing, investigative reporting, explanatory reporting and reporting on national or international affairs.

(c) 2011 AFP