The Sex Positive Journalism Awards

We are seeking pieces of journalism that:

Touch on sex—sexual practice, health, or behavior—in some manner (stories just about sexual orientation do not qualify)
Are intended for a general audience
Meet high overall standards of reporting, fact-checking, and writing

and do at least one of the following:

Show evidence of fairness in seeking sex-positive sources to respond to sex-negative ones
Ask hard questions about the motivation and background of sources who rely on sex-negative soundbites
Avoid biased or sensationalistic language
Cover newsworthy topics, events, or issues that might tend to be swept under the rug because of controversial sexual content
Report accurately, respectfully, and with nuance on sex research results
Contain fair, accurate, and non-sensational portrayals of sexual subcultures
Keep a clear separation between sex crimes, such as sexual assault or pedophilia, and things that merely make people uncomfortable, such as consensual kink, teen sexuality or gay priests; and help readers who may not be familiar with the issues make the distinction
Specifically challenge sex-negative assumptions or practices in society at large or in a specific community
Educate the public as to the diversity of sexual behavior without sensationalizing
Celebrate sexuality as a positive force in human lives

We are not looking for racy or sensationalistic stories. The awards will be something any traditional journalist should be proud to hang on his or her wall—a testament to journalistic standards of fairness and accuracy about a charged and controversial subject. Please check out last year's winners for examples.

The fine print:

Stories must have appeared in a print or online news publication. We define a news publication as being primarily devoted to the dissemination of news, not run by a specific interest group, edited, and containing first-hand, reported, bylined stories. Personal blogs do not count.

First-person essays, self-help articles, sex-tips articles, fiction/erotica, and books are not eligible.

We are not yet able to expand to non-print media or media outside the United States and Canada, but we'd love to at some time in the future. If you are from the UK, you should check out the Rosemary Goodchild Prize.

Starting with the 2009 awards, submissions are not accepted from publications whose parent organizations are current financial supporters of the awards.

Articles submitted for the 2009 awards must have been published in 2008. Submissions are due by April 20, 2009. Articles published in 2009 may be submitted as they are published; they will be kept for the following year's awards cycle.

The Sexies will be given in four categories: news, feature, opinion, and regular column. We may also award an "unsexy" (the most egregious violation of the Sexies' criteria).

Depending the volume of submissions, bews and features awards may be broken down into divisions based on type of publication: daily general-topic newspaper, other general-topic news publication, and sex-themed news publications.