Military Veterans in Journalism seeks nominees for this year’s awards honoring the top military veterans in the news media.
Military Veterans in Journalism is excited to officially open nominations for the Top 10 Veterans in Journalism Awards for 2026. This competition celebrates the outstanding achievements of military veteran journalists over the prior year. Each year’s award recipients are honored during the annual MVJ Convention and Career Fair, our celebration of the MVJ community that gathers journalists, industry leaders, and media professionals for connection and learning together.
This year’s submission deadline is July 26, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Neither the submitter nor the nominee needs to be a member of MVJ to submit a piece for consideration.
Eligibility and Requirements
MVJ welcomes submissions from veterans, service members, military spouses, and the general public. Submitters can either nominate their own work – self-nominations are permitted – or that of a fellow veteran. Each submission must meet the following guidelines:
- Only pieces created by veterans of the armed forces are eligible for these awards. While collaborative efforts are accepted, the only eligible journalists involved will be those who are veterans themselves.
- All submissions must be work published and made publicly available within the period from April 7, 2025 to July 26, 2026 (the submission deadline).
- Submissions must include the original publishing or release date, all contributors, and the organization under which the work was published.
- Submissions are not limited to any one form of media; they can include traditional print and broadcast, as well as emerging forms such as social media clip-style reporting, virtual reality, interactive data visualization, and others.
- Submissions should also include a brief description of the nominee and why they should be recognized as one of the year’s Top 10 Military Veterans in Journalism.
The submissions will be scored on originality, newsworthiness, journalistic quality, and diversity. MVJ’s panel of judges will apply their experience, editing standards, and personal background to decide how well a piece ranks in each category. Judges will be looking for accurate and insightful storytelling that engages them as the audience. All pieces, regardless of media type, will be reviewed by the same panel of judges and scored in the same manner.
While every submission will be scored and selections for the list will be made, scores will not be released publicly. Outside of scoring, judges will be able to supply commentary if they wish, but not every piece will receive feedback.
Nominate fellow veterans for the Top 10 Veterans in Journalism awards today!
