Now in their eighth year, the NCTJ Awards for Excellence sponsored by NFL UK recognise and promote the best journalism students completing NCTJ courses and journalists with less than two years’ experience in the industry.

If you haven’t entered the Awards for Excellence before, here are five reasons why you should:

1. Add another achievement to your CV

The awards are specifically aimed at those starting out on their journalism career, either as students on an NCTJ-accredited course or distance learning course, or reporters with less than two years’ experience. Previous years have shown there is a wealth of new talent and potential in newsrooms and we want to show it off. In a competitive job market it’s never too early to start making a name for yourself as an award-winning reporter.

2. Get yourself noticed

With so many doom and gloom headlines about the industry, it’s easy for the good work done by journalists every day to go under the radar. The Awards for Excellence showcase the very highest standard of journalism produced by NCTJ-qualified journalists during the year. Entries are sent in from all over the UK and every year our expert judges are impressed by the variety and quality of work submitted. Making it onto the shortlist will bring with it recognition for producing quality journalism.

3. The awards are free to enter

We don’t want anything to stand in the way of getting the very best stories submitted for recognition. The award categories are: news journalism, sports journalism, features, top scoop and multimedia story/campaign of the year. All award categories are free to enter and individuals can enter as many categories as they wish.

4. Compete on equal terms

In previous years, the trainee category was limited to only those registered for the National Qualification in Journalism (NQJ). This category has now been widened to include those with less than two years’ employment in any sector of journalism who have completed the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism (A-E in all modules and 60 words per minute shorthand). Whether you’re a freelance, a junior reporter, local TV journalist or an online reporter, anyone with an NCTJ diploma can apply.

5. Get a complementary invite to the gala dinner and awards presentation

Thanks to the continued support of our awards sponsor NFL UK, this will be the first year that we will be able to invite all shortlisted candidates to the gala dinner, not just the winners. This year’s event will be hosted at the stunning Library of Birmingham on 26 November and promises to be bigger and better than ever. You don’t have to enter the awards to come to the awards evening, but being on the shortlist certainly adds a bit of excitement to the ceremony.

What are you waiting for? The deadline for entries is 5pm on Friday, 18 September. Enter now.