Investigative Reporters and Editors is now accepting entries for the 2002 IRE Awards. The annual contest recognizes the best investigative reporting in print, broadcast and online media, and helps identify techniques and resources used by entrants.

In the newspaper division, a local-circulation weekly category was created a few years ago to assure a competitive playing field for alternative newsweeklies. Reporters and editors representing these papers have been either finalists or winners in that time:

SF Weekly, Phoenix New Times, New Times Los Angeles, Riverfront Times, The Jewish Week, The Nashville Scene, Fort Worth Weekly, The Dallas Observer, The Cleveland Scene, Independent Weekly (Durham, N.C.), Weekly Planet (Tampa), City Paper (Baltimore).

To make sure your paper gets noticed for top work published during 2002, visit www.ire.org/contest for complete information and entry forms.