Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) First Vice-President Fae Ellington (third right) has triggered laughter among (from left), Secretary Naomi Francis, PAJ Treasurer, Milton Walker; Public Relations Manager for Flow, Denise Williams; Assistant Commissioner of Police Les Green; Major General Stewart Saunders, head of the Jamaica Defence Force, and PAJ President Byron Buckley. They were attending the PAJ's off-the-record briefing, sponsored by Flow. The briefing, held last Thursday, focused on national security issues. - Contributed

The Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) has announced the introduction of four new categories in the National Journalism Awards for 2008.

In addition to the existing 13 categories, the following four are being introduced.

Excellence in Online Journalism

This award is designed to recognise outstanding efforts among journalists in the area of electronic publishing and other new media platforms. This award has two subcategories:

a) Websites operated by media houses.

b) Websites operated by independent/small operators.

Entrants should send a brief description of the website and provide the url, as well as access, if this is normally restricted.

Best Human-Interest Television Feature

This must be a 30-minute story produced locally and shown on local television.

Best Cover Design - Newspapers

This award is aimed at recognising subeditors/paginators for outstanding design of newspaper covers.

Best Cover Design - Newspaper Magazines

This award is aimed at rewarding subeditors/paginators for out-standing design of covers of magazines that appear weekly or more in newspapers.

Commenting on the additional award categories, PAJ President Byron Buckley said they were in response to requests from the membership and that additional categories would be introduced next year.

"The new categories are intended to meet the needs of paginators and subeditors who felt unrecognised in the past," Buckley explained. "Next year, we plan to include the works of producers and technical editors."

Buckley pointed out that entries for the various categories of awards should include the names of all the persons who contributed to the final output, and not just the final presenter/reporter.

Submissions must be done in triplicate and must be properly labelled with nominees' names, media houses and award category. Applications must be delivered to the PAJ headquarters on or before October 31 at 5 p.m. Direct enquiries to Tel. 631-6389-90 or email:denscriptions@yahoo.com.