The APME Journalism Excellence Awards honor superior journalism and innovation among newspapers and online news sites across the United States and Canada. The contest seeks to promote excellence by recognizing work that is well written, incisively reported and effectively challenges the status quo.

The deadline for entry is June 2, with a late and final deadline of June 9. Entry fees are $50 for APME members and $75 for non-members. To see if you are an APME dues-paying member click here. If your newspaper is not listed, enroll as a member now and save on contests and conference registration fees.

Entries submitted from June 3-9 will carry a $10 late fee.

The winning entries will be published at the APME annual conference in Las Vegas Sept. 8-11 and linked on the APME Web site.

For more information, contact APME Contest Committee Chairman Jan Touney, managing editor of the Quad-City Times, at (563) 383-2264 or by e-mail jtouney@qctimes.com, or Mark Mittelstadt, executive director of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association, mmittelstadt@ap.org or (212) 621-1838.

For the first time entries for APME's contests will be received entirely online. Click here to read more.

To sign up with APME contest site, submit entries, click here.

To download the description and rules for APME's Journalism Excellence Awards click here (.PDF format, Adobe Acrobat® Reader required) or click on each category below:

■ APME Innovator of the Year Awards

■ APME Public Service Awards

■ APME First Amendment Awards and Citations

■ APME Online Convergence Awards

■ APME International Perspective Awards