CSPA Gold Circle Awards

You submit work your publication has already printed or posted. For the 2026-27 cycle, that meant pieces published during the 2025-2026 academic year. There are 146 categories across News, Magazine, Digital Media and Yearbook, and each one spells out what to send, whether that's a single editorial, a single photo or a portfolio of three to six pieces by the same creator.

Print work goes in as a PDF of the complete page as it was published, with a two-page spread joined into one page and a multi-page entry combined into a single PDF. Each file name includes the division (HS or COL), the category number and the headline or title. Digital work goes in as a working link to your publication's website. Most entries belong to one student, although some, such as unsigned staff editorials, belong to the whole staff.

Most of the effort goes into choosing. With 30 entries for the whole publication, someone has to decide which pieces have the best chance in which category, then export and name each file correctly.

The category instructions are strict about format and originality, and several say outright what makes an entry ineligible or impossible to judge.

• Membership comes first

  Only CSPA member publications can enter. Membership is per publication, not per school, and has to be renewed every year.

• Dead links can't be judged

  CSPA says judges can only consider digital entries with working publication website links, so check every URL before submitting.

• PDF-only sites count as News

  Work designed as a PDF and read on a viewer such as ISSUU belongs in the News categories, not Digital Media.

• Student design only

  Yearbook covers, end sheets and title pages designed by a professional printing-plant artist mustn't be entered, because Gold Circle is a student competition.

• No scrapbook photo stories

  A photo story that just records who was present is ineligible, because every photo has to move the story forward.

• Editorials stay unsigned

  Staff editorials can't carry a byline or initials. Signed opinion pieces go in the column categories instead.

Many categories list their own criteria, and the judges are experienced journalists and educators who know how student media is made. Middle and high school work is compared only with other school work, never with college entries. The criteria reward reporting as much as polish. Opinion pieces are judged on research and insight as well as writing, and news photos on timing and news value as well as technique.

• Opinion columns

  Quality of writing and the amount of research and insight provided.

• Spot news photos

  Impact, news value, technique, subject matter, on-the-spot timing, audience impact and sharp print quality, with no posed shots.

• Illustrations

  Originality, how well the art captures the content, tone or flavor of the story, and artistic values.

• Photo stories

  Quality of photography, copy and layout, with every photo furthering the story.

• Yearbook theme and concept

  Design and theme copy, and how strongly the theme carries through the whole book.

• Yearbook feature presentation

  Subject selection, writing, photography and design.

About one entry in six won something in 2026. CSPA reported 6,060 entrants and 1,071 winners that year across the school and college divisions, for work published in 2024-2025. That count includes Certificates of Merit, so a top-three place is harder to get than the overall rate suggests.

EntrantsOfficial

6,060 entrants (2026)

Judges also leave categories without winners. In the 2026 middle and high school results, caption writing, non-fiction column and photo layout portfolio were among the categories with no awards given.

• 2026, In-depth news/feature story: "504 Plans" placed first.
• 2026, Breaking news (digital): "Evolv System Uncovers Loaded Weapon During Morning Arrival" placed first.
• 2026, Non-fiction article (magazine): "Hong Kong's Shoebox Housing," from an overseas school, placed first.
• 2026, Podcast: "Hidden Dallas" placed first.
• 2026, Video documentary: "The Man in the Red Bandana" placed first.

Winners get certificates, and that's all. Each category can award First, Second and Third Place plus up to three Certificates of Merit for Honorable Mention, with no cash or scholarship at any level. The certificates come with the $175 Gold Circle package your publication buys, so winning costs nothing extra. CSPA publishes its winners lists with each student's name, the title of the piece, the publication and the school, which gives you a public record of the placement.