Updated May 1, 2009

The 2009 APME Journalism Excellence Awards honor superior journalism and innovation among newspapers and online news sites across the United States and Canada. The awards seek to promote excellence by recognizing work that is well written, incisively reported and effectively challenges the status quo.

The deadline for entry is July 6, 2009, with a late and final deadline of July 13. Entry fees are $75 for APME members and $100 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 July 7-13 will carry a $25 late fee.

The winning entries will be honored at the APME annual conference in St. Louis Oct. 28-30 and linked on the APME Web site.

APME's contests will be received entirely online. The first step is signing up as an "entrant" at the APME contest site managed by Maryland-based OMNI Solutions Group at www.omnicontests3.com/apme/omnicontests. Keep your entrant username and password: you will use it to submit entries and return to edit them or add more before submitting them for judging. Submit all entries before accessing the payment page.

For more information, contact Mark Mittelstadt, executive director of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association, mmittelstadt@ap.org or (212) 621-1838.

To read or download a description and rules for the APME Journalism Excellence Awards 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

■ 2008 APME Award Winners

■ 2007 APME Award Winners

■ 2006 APME Award Winners

■ Arkansas: www.ap.org/arkansas/apme.html

■ California: www.apme.com/awards/2009/2008awards_calif.shtml

■ Iowa: www.ap.org/iowa

■ Michigan: www.apme.com/awards/2009/2008awards_mich.shtml

■ Ohio: www.ap.org/ohio/apso.html

■ Oklahoma: www.apoklahoma.org/2008aponewinners.htm

■ Pennsylvania: www.apme.com/awards/2009/2008awards_pa.shtml

■ Tennessee: www.ap.org/tennessee

■ Texas: www.texasapme.org