The Kansas City Press Club is pleased to announce that the 2019 Heart of America Awards competition is now open for submissions! This year’s deadline has been extended until 11:59 p.m. (CST) Thursday, March 21, 2019.

The Heart of America Awards recognizes the best original work published and broadcast in the 2018 calendar year by journalists in the region. You do not have to be a member of the Society of Professional Journalists to be considered.

Enter as “Contestant Manager” if all your media organization’s entries funnel through you; freelancers and single entrants will submit through “Open Call.”

Entry fees are $15 per entry for SPJ members and $25 per entry for non-members. At least one SPJ member must have worked on the entry for that entry to quality for the SPJ member rate.

Winners will be announced at the Heart of America Awards banquet at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 8, 2019, at BRIO Tuscan Grille in the Country Club Plaza.

To submit your entries, or for more information, go to our contest platform at https://betternewspapercontest.com, click on “Contestant Login,” and select “Kansas City Press Club 2019 Heart of America Awards” from the pulldown menu on the left. Once you’ve completed your registration, you can pay through PayPal on the KCPressClub.org website by going to “2019 HOA Contest Entry Payment” on the right rail of the web page.

For more information, contact Heart of America Awards contest coordinator Susan Dawson-O’Brien at sledocomms@gmail.com.