Help recognize and amplify excellence in environmental journalism by volunteering as a screener or judge for the annual SEJ Awards honoring the best environmental reporting across 10 categories, highlighting original, impactful and skillfully reported stories on the most urgent environmental issues of our time.
Screeners and judges play a vital role in the integrity and relevance of the awards by identifying the most outstanding entries from among hundreds of submissions each year.
What’s Involved
Screeners help narrow the pool of submissions and surface the strongest contenders. Judges evaluate the finalists and select honorees.
We welcome volunteers who are committed to fairness, integrity and journalistic excellence with a background in journalism or adjacent fields.
Time Commitment
- Screeners: Assigned in pairs by category
- Work independently to review entries and recommend a shortlist
- Review window: approximately 5–6 weeks (early fall)
- Target shortlist: 35–40 entries per category
- Judges: Panels of three per category
- Review top entries and meet to select winners
- Judging window: approximately 4–6 weeks (November to January)
Who Can Volunteer
We’re seeking current or former:
- Full-time or freelance working journalists
- Journalism educators or newsroom trainers
- Professionals in journalism-adjacent fields (e.g., science communication, documentary production, academic researchers)
All volunteers must:
- Understand core journalistic standards
- Demonstrate impartiality
- Commit to reviewing entries based solely on merit
What You’ll Do
- Review SEJ’s Awards Rules
- Use Submittable to access and evaluate entries
- Approach all entries with fairness and integrity, not personal views
- Declare any conflicts of interest and recuse yourself when necessary
Fill out our brief Volunteer Interest Form to help us celebrate and elevate the very best in environmental journalism!
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