The Walkley Award for Best Freelance Journalist of the Year 2014 is presented by the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, with prize including $3,000 in prize money, a full pass to the Walkley’s Storyology Summit and two tickets to the Walkley Awards Gala Dinner.

Entries open Monday May 19, 2014, and close at 5.00pm, Monday June 16, 2014.

To qualify for the award, you must be an Australian citizen resident regularly engaged as a freelance journalist/photographer in any medium. Work submitted for entry must have been published, produced or broadcast in either Australia or New Zealand.

Entries are judged on a work or a body of work (up to five pieces) published or broadcast between June 4, 2013 and June 16, 2014. Judges consider resources available and effort expended as well as newsworthiness; research; writing; production; incisiveness; impact; public benefit; ethics; originality; innovation; and creative flair.

Three finalists will be announced on Monday June 30, 2014 and the winner announced on Thursday July 24, 2014 at an event in Sydney. All entrants will receive an invitation to attend the announcement.

Entry costs is free for MEAA and EPMU members, and $295 including GST for non-members.

Application forms should be completed online here, and a 200-word entry statement explaining your entry must be included with the submission:
http://walkleys.com/awards/freelancer-of-the-year/freelance-journalist-year-application/