Become a Judge for AAJA’s Awards

The Asian American Journalists Association is recruiting judges for the AAJA Journalism Excellence Awards. A diverse set of experienced journalists and editors will be appointed to review the entries and select the finalists and winners.

You will:

• Have opportunities to review the most outstanding journalism produced byAAJA members in the past year.

• Help advance diversity in newsrooms and ensure fair and accurate coverage of communities of color.

Requirements:

• You don’t need to be a full-time journalist or editor, but you must have a passion for and professional experience in journalism.

• Attend a judging training. 

• Complying with the Awards schedule and time commitment; a few hours is a reasonable estimate. 

• Screeners’ time commitment will vary depending on the number of entries in their category while final judges will evaluate only the top 10 finalists. 

• Screeners and final round judges will have a few weeks each (screening round in February, final judging in February/March) to complete evaluations.

• Judges must participate in a review call for each category they are judging.

• Agree to the Awards Conflict of Interest Policy and abide by the AAJA Code of Conduct. 

If you are interested in judging for AAJA Awards, please fill out the required information in the form. Deadline: Wednesday, February 4, 2026 at 11:59 p.m.

Questions? Contact Awards Committee at awards@aaja.org