Headliners Foundation - Call for Awards

The Headliners Foundation of Texas is issuing a call for entries for its annual Showcase and Osborne Award contest to honor exceptional work by Texas-based journalists. The contest will recognize work produced from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025. The deadline for entries is Monday February 10, 2026.

The Showcase Awards, first introduced by the Foundation in 2013, recognize outstanding investigative journalism that has made a significant impact on Texas government, public policy, culture, or the conduct of a business, non-profit or other organization. With the addition of the Storytelling category in 2021, the contest now also recognizes compelling storytelling to shed new light on an aspect of Texas and Texans, including their evolving culture and history.

Last year, the Foundation announced creation of the Burl Osborne Award, which honors the legacy of the former editor and publisher of the Dallas Morning News. This new award recognizes outstanding reporting on social justice and human rights. The introduction of the Osborne Award added $3,000 to the cash prizes distributed through these contests, which now total $11,000. There is no cost to enter the competition, and all prizes will be paid directly to individual journalists who produced the winning submissions. 

Contest rules and criteria for all Showcase and Osborne Award categories may be found at www.headlinersfoundation.org.

Eligible news media outlets and journalists may submit up to three entries per category from work produced in 2025.  Revisions to the contest rules in 2023 now provide for each entry to contain up to eight separate elements. Broadcast and podcast entries may submit up to 90 minutes of content.

This year's winners will be announced in the spring and will be recognized in person at the Headliners Foundation's annual Mike Quinn Awards Luncheon in the fall.

In 1983, the Headliners Foundation of Texas was formed as a tax-exempt organization to formalize the Headliners Club’s awards program into an organization dedicated to promoting excellence in Texas journalism. In addition to the professional media contests, the Foundation awards scholarships to promising student journalists from universities throughout the state and provides support to other organizations working to benefit the journalism community.