DEADLINE: JULY 6, 2009 (Late deadline: JULY 13, 2009)

The 2009 APME International Perspective Awards will be given to Associated Press and Canadian Press member newspapers for outstanding coverage of international news for local readers.

These awards recognize newspapers that provide effective and thoughtful coverage of world events for a local audience. This could be reflected in coverage from the newspaper's own foreign staff; consistent, discriminating selection of news agency and syndicate material with an eye to overall importance, the quality of writing and the specific interests of the local community; locally produced stories tracing the international connections of people, businesses and other organizations in the newspaper's circulation area; articles about, or by, local people living or traveling abroad; and the effective use of local experts to provide background on international developments.

Nominations may be made by a newspaper itself, by other newspapers, by AP bureaus or by civic or cultural organizations for work published between June 1, 2008, and June 30, 2009. (Eligibility period restores one month reduced in 2008 competition due to earlier convention that year.)

There shall be three awards: one for newspapers with average daily circulation to 39,999; one to newspapers with average daily circulation of 40,000 to 149,999; another to newspapers of 150,000 average daily circulation or more, according to the latest audited figures. APME reserves the right to decline to award a winner in any category.

Only newspapers are eligible to submit entries except that bureau work may be entered by a single newspaper for judging in the 150,000-and-over circulation category regardless of the size of the paper in which the work appears.

All entries will be accepted online at www.omnicontests3.com/apme/omnicontests.

An entry can include electronic files of stories, series and/or editorials and community reaction. The files should include proof of publication date. A total of 20 files may be uploaded, and should include a letter with a description of the newspaper's criteria and philosophy for internationally related coverage. The letter also should discuss any accomplishments resulting from the coverage. It should also discuss significant challenges to the accuracy or approach of the entry, and steps the newspaper took to address those concerns. Published corrections or clarifications must be included.

Questions should be directed to:

Mark Mittelstadt, APME
The Associated Press
19 Commerce Court West
Cranbury, NJ 08512

Phone: (212) 621-1838

E-mail: mmittelstadt@ap.org

Entries must be submitted online by July 6, 2009, to be assessed the normal entry fee, or by July 13, 2009, for an additional $25 assessment.

A $100 contest fee ($75 for APME members) will be assessed entries submitted by July 6, 2009. Entries submitted from July 7-13 will be assessed $125 ($100 for APME members.)

Follow information on the online application to submit payment by credit card or to send a check.

(For more on APME membership go here).

Judging will be done by a committee appointed by the president of APME and to include an international editor of The Associated Press and other experts on international news. Winners will be announced a short time later and recognized at the APME annual conference in St. Louis Oct. 28-30, 2009.

Over 150,000 circulation:

The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C., for a four-part series reporting a North Carolina National Guard sergeant's struggle with a promise he was unable to keep to a local woman – that he would bring her son back from Iraq alive.

40,000 to 150,000 circulation:

Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, Ariz., for the emotional story of locating the family and returning to them the body of a young Mexican man who died attempting to cross the border.

Under 40,000 circulation:

The Brownsville (Texas) Herald, for "Worlds Apart" reporting the marked difference between public schools in Brownsville and those across the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Mexico.