|
|
2007 SPJ Excellence in Journalism Contest FAQs General Contest Questions Q. There are two Excellence in Journalism contests: regional and local. How do I know which contest to enter? A. The regional contest covers entries from journalists located in Region 10 (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.) Entries will be accepted in these categories: Daily Newspapers (based on circulation size); Alternative Newsweeklies (circulation above 10,000); Television (three markets); Radio ; and Online. See the corresponding entry form for specifics. The local contest (Western Washington only) covers Non-Daily Newspapers and Magazines. In 2007, there are separate entry forms for the Non-Daily and Magazine contests. See the corresponding entry form for specifics. Q. What are the eligibility requirements to enter the local contest? A. Journalists entering the local contest must reside in Western Washington AND the corresponding newsroom must also be located in Western Washington. There will be no exceptions made to this rule, except for the General Excellence category*. Each entrant will be asked to certify his or her eligibility by initialing each entry. Entries that are not initialed and certified will be automatically disqualified. * This rule varies slightly for the General Excellence category. If the newsroom is located in Western Washington and the majority of the work is done in Washington, the publication qualifies to enter the General Excellence category. Q. Do I have to be a member of SPJ to enter the contests? A. No, but SPJ members receive a $5/entry discount on entries submitted to the local contest. To join SPJ, contact membership chair Oren Campbell via e-mail at oec@u.washington.edu. Note: Region 10 does not offer discounted entry fees to SPJ members. The discount only applies to the Western Washington Non-Daily Newspaper and Magazine contests.\ Q. Can we use one SPJ member’s membership number for all of our SPJ entries? A. No, each entrant must have his or her own membership number to receive the $5/entry discount in the local contest. Membership numbers cannot be shared and they are required on the entry form in order to take advantage of the discount. Q. Can I pay my entry fees with a credit card? A. Because we are a nonprofit organization run by volunteers, we do not have the ability to accept credit cards, although we hope to in the future. Entry fees paid by check should be made out to “Society of Professional Journalists.” Q. Can I pay my fees with a purchase order (P.O.)? A. No, we are unable to accept purchase orders. Q. What are the contest deadlines? A. The deadlines are as follows: 2/01/08 – Broadcast and Online (regional contest) 2/08/08 – Daily Newspapers and Alternative Newsweeklies (regional contest) 2/15/08 – Non-Daily Newspapers and Magazines (local contest) 2/15/08 – High School (local contest) Note: Entries must be postmarked by the above dates to be eligible for any of the contests. Q. Where do I mail my entries? A. Entries to the Non-Daily and Magazine contests should be mailed to:
SPJ Excellence in Journalism Contest
The address for the mailing of regional entries (TV, radio, daily newspapers, online and alt-newsweeklies with circ. above 80,000) will be posted as soon as that information is known. Q. Can I hand-deliver my entries for the regional contest? A. No. Q. Can I hand-deliver my entries for the local contest? A. Entries for the local contest may be hand-delivered to the WNPA office no later than 4 p.m. on the date of each deadline. WNPA is located at 12354 – 30th Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98125. Q. Do editorial submissions have to be bylined? A. No. Q. What is the difference between an illustration and a cartoon? A. An illustration serves the same purpose as a photo: it shows something about a story it accompanies. A cartoon tells the reader something from the cartoonist’s point of view. Q. Is a page design limited to one page, or can a multiple-page submission be considered a single entry? A. Generally, providing at least three pages gives the judges a better sense of consistency. Please note that for the Magazine contest, we’ve added a new category, M21, spread design. This category may be a better fit for some design entries. Q. Why did SPJ decide to discontinue the Sweepstakes Awards in 2006 in favor of the new General Excellence Awards? A. It is our goal to provide a truly competitive overall excellence award that would give true bragging rights to radio stations, TV stations, newspapers, magazines and online publications to say they are the “best" in their circulation area.The Sweepstakes Award simply counted up the number of awards a publication or station won, from honorable mention through first, and declared the one with the most points the winner.We wanted to provide a more competitive and substantive award. By providing two of the same days for publications and stations to submit entries, as well as a wild card day of their choice, we felt the overall award was more equitable as well as more competitive. In addition, this change gives publications of all sizes an equal opportunity to participate in the General Excellence award. This year’s General Excellence dates are April 10, 2007; October 3, 2007; and a wildcard date of the publication’s choice. The wildcard date must be in 2007. Q. I understand that a portion of the contest proceeds will benefit the Western Washington Pro Chapter’s scholarship fund for journalism students. I would like to make an additional contribution to the SPJ scholarship fund. How do I do that? A. Make your check payable to “Society of Professional Journalists” and mail it to SPJ, c/o WNPA, 12354 – 30 th Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98125. Be sure to indicate that your check is to be allocated to the scholarship fund. We appreciate your support of our future journalists. Q. It looks like you’ve made changes to the Magazine categories. Why? A. We received feedback from local editors recommending changes to the magazine categories. When originally created, we duplicated the Non-Daily categories for the Magazine contest. The categories didn’t seem to fit, so based on the editors’ suggestions, we combined categories, eliminated a few and added some new categories. The changes are applicable to the 2007 contest year for the first time, so minor adjustments may still be needed in future years. Have feedback about the changes? E-mail your comments to spj@virtuallyyourz.com. Q. I have more than one photo to submit to the Portrait category? May I? A. No, the Portrait category is for one photo only, although each entrant can submit two entries per category. If you want to submit a series of portraits, consider the Photo Essay/Pages category, N27 or M27. Q. In past years, you have required 10 photos for the Portfolio Photography category in the Magazine contest. This year you are requiring 5 to 10 photos. Why did this requirement change? A. Because so many magazines are using freelancers, we felt that flexibility was important. We also recognize that an entrant may not have 10 photos in one magazine, but he or she may have 5. We are giving the entrants the option of submitting between 5 and 10 photos for this category. Q. For the General Excellence category, do we select excerpts from the designated issues (April 10, October 3 and wildcard date) or do we submit the entire issue for each date? A. You should submit the entire issue or broadcast. Q. We are not a daily publication. How do we select issues for the specific dates of April 10 and October 3? A. Choose the issues with the closest dates following the dates noted. For example, monthly magazines will submit their April and October issues. A quarterly publication would submit those issues closest following the April and October dates. Q. What is the wildcard date for the General Excellence category? A. The wildcard date is a date of the entrant’s choosing. It must, however, occur within the 2007 calendar year. Q. Can freelancers enter independently of the publications for which they work? A. Yes, a freelance journalist or photographer can enter his or her own work. The publication can also submit on behalf of the journalist or photographer. Entry Format Questions *Each year we receive dozens of questions regarding how entries are to be submitted. The goal behind the formatting rules is to make the submissions uniform and easy for judges to read and follow. It should be clear what each entry is and how the article, page layout, etc. flows (page 1, page 2, page 3…end). To the extent possible, paste your entries onto 8.5 x 11” sheets of white paper. Q. Does my entry have to be pasted onto 8.5 x 11” paper? A. Follow the format guidelines to the extent possible to ensure consistency among entries.* Q. Does my entry have to be put in an 8.5 x 11” envelope? A. Follow the format guidelines to the extent possible to ensure consistency among entries.* Q. What do I do if my tear sheets are larger than 8.5 x 11”? A. Fold them to fit.* Q. Do I have to use glue to paste my entries to 8.5 x 11” paper? A. Follow the format guidelines to the extent possible to ensure consistency among entries.* Q. My entry is larger than an 8.5 x 11” sheet of paper. Do I have to glue it? How do I make it fit? A. To the extent possible, paste your entries onto 8.5 x 11” sheets of paper, folding larger entries where necessary to fit.* Q. How should photos be marked? A. Cross out photos that are not being entered, if applicable.* Q. This year photos (except for those in the photo essay category #24) must now be submitted on CD. How should they be submitted? A. Two entries per photo category per entrant may be submitted to the Non-Daily Newspaper and Magazine contests. Because different judges will review different categories, each CD should contain only one category per entrant. Recommended format: JPEG (*.jpg) files are preferred. Q. What format should graphics be in (illustrations and cartoons, for example)? A. We prefer *.pdf files for graphics. Awards/Banquet Questions Q. Who will judge the entries to determine the winners in each category? A. The local chapter’s contest coordinators arrange to have out-of-state SPJ chapters review and judge the contest entries. This ensures objectivity and fairness. Q. How will I know if I’ve won? A. Winners will be announced at the local SPJ chapter’s annual awards banquet on Saturday, May 31, 2008 at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue (details to follow). All contest entrants are encouraged to attend to honor and network with their peers. Q. What prizes will be awarded? A. Trophies are awarded to first place winners in each category. Second and third place and honorable mention winners will receive award certificates. Winners at each level will be honored at the annual banquet, but only first place winners will be asked to come up to accept their awards. Other award winners will receive their certificates at the end of the evening. Note: At their discretion, judges may award a winner in each place for a given category or give no awards. Places may not be skipped and awards will not be given to more than one honorable mention per category. Q. How can I get my award if I can’t attend? A. You can have someone else pick up your award for you, or we can have it delivered to you the week following the ceremony. Send an e-mail to spj@virtuallyyourz.com with instructions if you cannot attend. Still have questions? Contact our 2007 Contest Team from the Western Washington Pro Chapter:
Dana Blozis
Laura Evans
Andrea James
Last updated: December 27, 2007 
| ||
© SPJ Western Washington Pro Chapter