The University of Belize Prize for Investigative Journalism, established in 2022, honors courageous journalists who uphold democracy by exposing injustice, and promoting transparency.

UB Prize for Investigative Journalism

About the Prize

The University of Belize Prize for Investigative Journalism seeks to reward courageous and dedicated journalists who watch, chronicle, reveal and hold to account the people and forces that work against equity, transparency, civility and good governance in Belize.

Founded in 2022, the Prize was designed to show that journalists are vital in any democracy. Their collective role in chronicling the life and times of a nation is crucial to holding those with power and influence accountable and amplifying the voices of the voiceless.

Top Award: $10,000
2 Finalist Awards: $5,000 (each)

Who is Eligible

The contest is open to a Belizean journalist working in print (newspaper or magazine), digital, television, multimedia or radio journalism in Belize. Independent bloggers may be considered if they can demonstrate their work has been vetted by an objective journalistic party.

Submissions

Entrants: When two or more persons are responsible for submitted work (e.g. co-reporters and a researcher, or reporter and videographer/editor team), the application must include both/all names and the prize money will be shared between the parties according to mutual agreement.
Names and organizations on entry materials cannot be changed after submission.

Language: All submissions and accompanying materials must be in English (except for direct quotes, which may be in other languages, with accompanying translation).

Judging: The panel will consist of four persons – three from outside of Belize and one from Belize.

Award: The Prize will be awarded at a ceremony on World Press Freedom Day, 3 May 2025.

Deadline: Submissions must be received by 11:59 pm on 31 January 2026

How to Enter

1. Read the criteria and judging considerations below carefully

2. Complete and submit the entry form.

See Form

Submission Limits

There can be no more than THREE entries per news organization in a single content year. An entry can be a series of reports on a single subject, but the series must be limited to FIVE or fewer parts; for example, a newspaper series consisting of FIVE articles or a television series consisting of FIVE segments.

Criteria

For the purposes of this contest, investigative journalism is defined as work that:

exposes, reveals or explains an issue in a way that has not been previously documented
includes multiple (more than two) human sources
demonstrates how the issues/matter/subject affects Belizeans
includes reference to data, public records and other sources that can corroborate claims and assertions made by the writer or interview subjects
demonstrates that the reporter or reporters have made every effort to contact and obtain responses from named persons in the work so that they have the opportunity to respond to claims and assertions

Judging Considerations

In reaching their decisions on winner, the judges will consider:

Grammar, spelling, punctuation and–for broadcast entries–pronunciation
Quality of text or script writing
Clarity and coherence of narrative
Accuracy (e.g. dates, locations, contextual information)
Attribution (i.e. are claims and assertions corroborated)

IMPORTANT: If you are in the finalist pool (from which the winner will be chosen), you will be required to provide an excerpt for your entry (e.g. a clip of audio, video or selected paragraph from a print/online article)