Based on experience and tips from judges who must plough through some 1,400 entries each year, here are some tips about entering. 

Take some time to assemble entries neatly.

If you can, staple the components of an entry in this order, top to bottom: entry ballot, covering letter (if any, from either a senior editor or yourself), and then the entry. 

Do not send background pieces or testimonials. The judges are instructed to judge only those works that are being submitted for the competition. However, a covering letter from the competitor or senior editor to provide some background and explain the circumstances behind the story is usually useful for the judges. 

Covering letters that contain nothing more than information serving to introduce the competitor as a “fine person and outstanding journalist” are not necessary. 

Be specific in indicating to the judges what stories they are to judge. Your covering letter could explain why certain stories are being submitted over others. Entries that do not comply with the required number of parts or stories will be disqualified.

A competitor in the writing categories can enter more often than the requirements in each category, as long as the competitor is part of a joint entry. Each joint entry constitutes a single entity.