Nominations open: Monday, October 12
Deadline: Friday, November 13
Awards celebration: Tuesday, January 12, The California Endowment, Los Angeles
California freelancers working for a California ethnic news outlet may submit with permission from the outlet where the work appeared.
Visit our ACoM Awards page.
Who Qualifies as “Ethnic Media”?
Ethnic media outlets are print, digital, broadcast, or multimedia platforms that publish regularly and serve a specific audience defined by race, ethnic origin, or gender identity. Pan-ethnic outlets serve multiple ethnic audiences, such as pan-AAPI, pan-African diaspora, pan-immigrant, pan-people-of-color, and pan-LGBTQ+ audiences.
Award Categories
The categories reflect ethnic media’s central mission: telling the stories and amplifying the voices and perspectives of their communities. Entries may be news reports, feature stories, special investigations, news analyses, opinion essays or editorials, or photo essays. We encourage you to enter work on the topics your audiences care about most.
1. Art/Culture, Entertainment & Sports
Honors the best work exploring cultural diversity and ethnic cultures through sports, food, and the performing arts, and the ways arts and entertainment reflect community life. Topics may include:
- Cultural icons, sports figures, and role models
- The arts as a lens on social issues
- Cross-cultural resonance and influence of the arts
- Arts, entertainment, or sports shaped by barriers such as immigration, discrimination, or international relations
2. Business & Economy
Recognizes reporting on the business and economic forces shaping ethnic communities, from immigrant entrepreneurship and family businesses to workforce trends, highlighting both challenges and contributions. Topics may include:
- Cost of living and inflation
- Tariff and trade impacts
- Jobs and workforce development
- Business recovery after disasters
- Impact of immigration enforcement and ICE raids on business and the economy
3. Education
Recognizes in-depth analysis, features, or investigative reporting on education, from preschool through K-12, college, postgraduate, and vocational training, as it relates to ethnic and immigrant communities. Topics may include:
- School funding and cost
- Bullying and school climate
- Student mental health
- Impacts of reduced funding on colleges and public schools
- Impact of immigration enforcement and ICE raids on students and families
4. Environment
Honors in-depth reporting on environmental challenges as experienced by ethnic and immigrant communities, including community resilience and adaptation. Topics may include:
- Climate change and extreme weather
- Wildfires and disaster response
- Pollution and public health
- Access to parks and public spaces
- Public safety and environmental justice
- Community innovations such as urban gardens or drought adaptation by immigrant farmers
5. Health
Honors in-depth reporting that documents how ethnic and immigrant communities experience health and health care, including inequities, innovations, and solutions. Topics may include:
- Mental health
- Medi-Cal/Medicaid/SNAP cuts (H.R. 1)
- Access to health care
- Discrimination and bias in treatment
- Data collection and research findings
- Representation in medical research
- Language and cultural barriers
- Diversity in the health care workforce
- Health disparities and chronic illnesses
- Impact of immigration enforcement and ICE raids on health
6. Immigration
Honors in-depth reporting that spotlights the experiences of immigrants and refugees, changes in immigration policy, and the struggle for immigrant rights, capturing both personal stories and broader policy impacts. Topics may include:
- Immigration enforcement, deportation, and racial profiling
- ICE raids, detention, and protests
- Family separation
- Asylum seekers and refugee resettlement
- TPS holders
- Civic engagement and immigrant rights advocacy
- Civil rights and constitutional protections
- Visa policies for students, workers, and families
- Travel restrictions
- Job access and workplace conditions
7. International Affairs
Recognizes reporting that connects ethnic communities to global events, from diplomacy and transnational business to culture and family ties. Topics may include:
- Trade and tariffs
- Remittances
- Visa policies for students, workers, and families
- Foreign investment
- Tourism and travel
- Global conflicts (e.g., Russia–Ukraine, Gaza)
- Human rights, persecution, and political dissent
- Public opinion in diaspora communities
- Civic engagement and activism
8. Politics
Honors in-depth reporting on the political forces affecting ethnic and immigrant communities, from homeland politics to grassroots movements and election campaigns. Topics may include:
- Profiles of first-time candidates
- Voter enfranchisement and suppression
- Redistricting and representation
- Local, state, and national election coverage
- Homeland politics and its influence on U.S. communities
- Accountability of elected officials to diverse constituencies
9. Photography & Visual Storytelling
This award honors outstanding photography and visual storytelling that documents the people, experiences, and issues shaping ethnic, immigrant, and diverse communities. It recognizes compelling visual work that captures powerful moments, elevates community voices, and tells stories that may not be fully conveyed through words alone. Topics may include:
- Breaking news and community events
- Portraits and profiles of community members and leaders
- Cultural celebrations, traditions, and everyday community life
- Immigration and refugee experiences
- Protests, civic engagement, and social movements
- Environmental, health, education, or economic issues
- Human-interest and documentary photography
- Photo essays that tell an in-depth community story
10. Community Voice & Impact. This award recognizes an outstanding influencer, community advocate, community organizer, or trusted community voice who uses their platform to inform, engage, and empower diverse communities. It honors individuals who effectively connect people with important information, elevate community concerns, encourage civic participation, and help bring attention to issues that may otherwise be overlooked. Work may include, for example:
- Social media content and digital storytelling
- Community education and public information
- Grassroots organizing and outreach
- Civic engagement and voter education
- Advocacy around issues affecting local communities
- Connecting residents with services, resources, and opportunities
- Amplifying underrepresented community voices
- Building engagement around health, education, immigration, economic, or social issues
- Mobilizing communities in response to emergencies, disasters, or other critical issues
- Using culturally and linguistically relevant communication to reach underserved audiences
Our Policy on AI-Generated Content
ACoM is celebrating journalism by human reporters, writers, and editors. We are looking for work that is not generated by AI.
- Entries must be original human work. Text that was drafted or substantially written by generative AI tools (such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini) is not eligible.
- We will screen submissions with Pangram, an AI-detection tool.
- By submitting, you attest that the entry was written by the credited journalist(s) and was not generated by AI.
- If an entry is flagged, ACoM will review it and contact the outlet before any decision is made. Detection tools are not perfect, so a flag alone will not disqualify an entry. Entries found to be AI-generated will be disqualified, and awards may be rescinded if this is discovered later.
- Photography entries must be original photographs taken by the credited photographer; images generated or substantially altered by AI will not be accepted.
- AI-assisted translations will be accepted.
The Judging Process
Judges will look for originality of topic, diligence and credibility of reporting, uniqueness of information, use of multimedia storytelling (video or audio excerpts, photography, data visualization, interactive graphics, creative use of social media), and impact on the community served.
Each judge reviews submissions in one category and selects three finalists. An ACoM advisory board then reviews the finalists and determines the first- and second-place winners. Judges bring linguistic or cultural fluency, knowledge of the ethnic media sector, and/or expertise in fields ethnic media cover, such as politics, health care, the economy, education, the environment, social justice, sports, food, and entertainment.
Winners will be selected in each category for (1) Print/Digital, (2) Broadcast (TV & Radio), and (3) Multimedia.
How to Submit
Submit online by Friday, November 13, by below on the button and filling out the submission form.
Entries must have been published or aired between [Sep. 1, 2025 and Sep. 31, 2026].
- Each entry must indicate its category and the outlet where it was published or aired.
- Each outlet or independent journalist may submit one entry per category, up to eight entries total.
- A series may include no more than three articles.
- Outlets that partnered on a project should submit under the lead outlet’s name and list all participating outlets on the application form.
- Audio and video entries must be submitted as URLs, with sharing settings set to “anyone can view.”
- Print and digital entries may be submitted as URLs or PDFs.
- In-language text entries must include an English translation. In-language audio or video entries must include an English summary (300 words maximum) and/or English subtitles.
Cash Awards: No Entry Fees
There is no fee to submit. Winners will receive checks after the awards.
- First-place winners: $500
- Second-place winners: $300
- Finalists: a certificate, recognition at the awards ceremony, and a feature on a special landing page on the ACoM website, alongside the winners
Tickets to the Expo & Awards on January 12 are free, but space is limited. To secure your spot RSVP HERE.
We look forward to celebrating your work.
If you have any questions, please send to awards@americancommunitymedia.org
