Criteria: The Iowa Gallup Award
for Excellent Journalism Using Polls

The Iowa Gallup Award for Excellent Journalism Using Polls will be selected in the spring of 2008 from among nominees provided by those in the fields of journalism and professional polling.

To be eligible for the Award, stories must be published, broadcast, or placed on-line in the previous calendar year (i.e. the 2007 Award will be an original news media story between Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2007).

Award-winning stories will be accurate in analyzing and interpreting data, have clarity of presentation, and, considering the importance of the story, have implications for public discourse.

The first level of judging will be done by a representative of The Gallup Organization to determine the accuracy and strength of the polls used as a foundation of research for the stories.

Adhering to American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) and National Council on Public Polls (NCPP) guidelines for reporting, stories must use either original data (polls developed and data collected by the news organization itself or by a research firm for the news organization) and/or secondary analysis (poll data collected by an outside organization for a purpose other than the analysis presented in the news story and reanalyzed by the news organization or by a research firm for the news organization).

Then, a panel of judges selected by The Gallup Organization and The University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication will rate the stories on the basis of creativity, writing style, and impact.

The Inaugural Award winner will receive a cash stipend of $2,500. Deadline extended: March 15, 2008