BIBA Journalist and Media Awards 2026
We are delighted to announce that the BIBA Journalist and Media Awards 2026 are now open for entries. Open to journalists who have written, displayed or broadcast on UK general insurance subjects in the UK press (other than when entering the London or International Award) between 24th February 2025 – 24th February 2026, the awards aim to recognise the important contribution that journalists make in promoting a better understanding and awareness of general insurance issues in the UK.
The awards ceremony will be held in London in the summer.
Deadline – The closing deadline for award entries is 17 March 2026.
If you have any questions please contact Becky Pledge – [email protected]
Awards criteria and categories below
The individual categories are:
- Consumer Champion Award
Open to consumer or money journalists tackling readers’ insurance-based problems and complaints - Story of the Year Award
Open to national, insurance trade and regional journalists for the best insurance story of the year.
- London or International Award
Open to any journalist for the best, most informative article about the London or international insurance market.
- Scoop of the Year Award
Open to any journalist who was responsible for researching, breaking, and writing an important insurance news story first.
- Best Consumer or Business Award
Open to national and regional journalists for the best all round article examining insurance issues for consumers or businesses including the investigation, research and overall explanation of a general insurance subject that raises awareness for individual or business consumers of insurance.
- Best Trade Award
Open to journalists who have written an article, feature or news item including the investigation, research, and overall explanation of a general insurance subject in the insurance trade press
- Most Promising Newcomer Award
Open to any journalist who started to write or broadcast on insurance matters during the last 18 months.
- Best Interview or Profile Award
Open to any journalist or podcaster who has researched and developed the most informative and most engaging interview with an individual or profile of an organisation within the insurance industry.
- Best Thought Leadership Award
Open to any journalist who has written an in-depth, opinion-led piece that shapes or provokes debate in the insurance industry.
- Best Investigation Award
Open to any journalist who has thoroughly investigated, researched, and presented in any medium an insurance issue to increase the understanding of it.
- Best Digital or Broadcast Award
Open to any journalist or media outlet who has creatively used digital or broadcast channels to further the understanding of insurance to their audience. (Where presenting a digital entry we expect this to use digital media to their full extent to enhance the reporting of any issue and not simply an article posted online)
- Best Innovation Award
Open to any journalist who has written about innovation or a technological advancement in insurance.
- Best National Award
Open to journalists who has written an article, feature or news item including the investigation, research, and overall explanation of a general insurance subject in the national or regional press.
- Best Freelance Journalist Award
Open to any freelance journalists who has written an article and delivered high‑quality coverage of the general insurance sector across any media outlet.
- Best Publication Award (judged and presented by BIBA)
Awarded to the publication or team that has in the BIBA judges’ opinion best presented insurance matters in the course of the year. (no entries necessary)
General Awards Criteria
- Please review individual categories for specific entry criteria and requirements (above).
- Journalists can enter a maximum of three award categories including entries made as part of a team.
- Podcasts must be no longer than 45 minutes.
- Written articles must ideally be no longer than 3,500 words.
- Only send links to open source websites and not those that are password protected. Where necessary please supply these as a PDF attachment.
- The judges will look for entries which raise awareness and understanding of general insurance subjects and help the audience to gain a greater insight into general insurance issues. Originality, style, quality of research and investigation will also be assessed.
- All entries (except Most Promising Newcomer Award and Consumer Champion Award which require two articles and Best Freelance Journalist Award requiring minimum of 2 articles and maximum 5 articles) must consist of only one general insurance article, broadcast recording or campaign.
- Most Promising Newcomer Award and Consumer Champion Award require two general insurance articles or broadcast recordings.
- Best Freelance Journalist Award requires a minimum of two articles maximum of five examples of your work, features, articles, investigations, showcasing your skill as a freelance journalist across a selection of publications.
- Journalists should be aware that they can only enter each category once this includes joint entries with your team. You may enter a maximum of three categories, but a different article must be entered for each category. Any duplicated entries will not be judged.
- Print, broadcast and online pieces produced between 24 February 2025 – 24 February 2026 are eligible for submission.
- Upload JPEG, PDF files or word documents. Maximum file size is 300MB per piece.
- Video entries may be hosted on a video site such as YouTube or Vimeo.
- In order to help the judges understand the background of the article entered, journalists can submit a supporting statement of up to 150 words explaining why their article deserves to win. This will help to ensure that all factors are taken into consideration during the judging process.
- BIBA has the right to disregard an entry if it does not fit with the requirements of the awards criteria or BIBA can move an entry to a different category.
A supporting statement is compulsory for the following categories:
*The Most Promising Newcomer Award requires the journalist’s editor/producer to supply a supporting statement only.
*The Scoop of the Year Award requires the journalist to explain in their supporting statement how they achieved the scoop story through investigative journalism.
*The Best Investigation Award requires the journalist to explain their methodology, reasons and results.
*The Best Digital or Broadcast Award requires the journalist to supply a supporting statement.
*The Best Freelance Journalist Award requires the journalist to supply a supporting statement including details of publications they have worked with during their career.
