True Story Award 2027 for Journalists ($20,000 prize) – YOA

Deadline: October 31, 2026

Applications are open for the True Story Award 2027. This worldwide award for journalists from world wide is offered on the opening of the True Story Festival. The True Story Award recognises written experiences by journalists from world wide that stand out for their depth of analysis, high quality of writing, and societal relevance. 

The award is offered in three classes: Research, Storytelling, and Impact.

• True Story Award Research: This award recognises the top quality of journalistic analysis. The analysis takes under consideration the scope of the analysis, time invested, information evaluation, the problem of acquiring data, and any dangers concerned.
• True Story Award Storytelling: This award recognises the excellent writing high quality of a characteristic. The analysis takes under consideration construction and composition, the mix of details and prose, narrative class, and literary high quality in non-fiction.
• True Story Award Impact: This award recognises the societal impression of a characteristic. The analysis takes under consideration information worth, reader response, and potential additional penalties in politics, the financial system, and society.

Prizes

• The fundamental jury selects the three winners within the classes “Research”, “Storytelling”, and “Impact”. Each winner receives a prize of USD $20,000.

Eligibility

• Open to journalists from world wide.
• Reports from world wide printed between 1 October 2025 and 30 September 2026 in day by day or weekly newspapers, magazines, or on-line are eligible for submission to the 2027 True Story Award. 

Emtry Requirements

• Submitted texts have to be between 15,000 and 85,000 characters in size, together with areas.
• Previously printed works, ebook publications, and unpublished manuscripts are usually not eligible.
• Visual and audiovisual works are excluded.
• Purely factual texts and educational works are usually not eligible.
• Each creator could submit just one textual content.
• Entries could also be submitted by the authors themselves or by their editorial groups.
• By submitting their work, authors verify that their textual content is predicated on genuinely researched occasions and meets journalistic requirements.
• In the occasion of a nomination, authors grant the True Story Foundation the suitable to publish their texts on its web site within the authentic language and in English.
• In the occasion of a nomination, authors grant the True Story Foundation the suitable to publish their texts in German in associate media retailers of the Award and the Festival.

Application

The submission deadline is Saturday, 31 October 2026, at 12:00 (UTC). Entries submitted after this deadline can’t be thought of.

Entries might be submitted on-line within the following 9 extensively spoken languages:

• ال†عر†بیة-
• 中文
• English
• Français
• Deutsch
• فارسی
• Português
• Pусский
• Español

Entries in languages aside from these listed above could also be submitted in English translation by way of one of many following regional classes:

• Europe
• World I (Africa and the Middle East)
• World II (South Asia and Southeast Asia)

Click here to apply

For extra data, go to True Story Award.