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2012-2013 New Jersey
College Newspaper Contest
Sponsored by
Entry
Deadline for the 2012-2013 Contest is
March 8, 2013 at 11:59 p.m.
New Jersey
college newspapers are encouraged to enter the New
Jersey College Newspaper Contest to honor their
newspapers and the journalistic writing, photography and
artistic skills of their staff members.
Content
of print and online college newspapers published between
March 1, 2012, and February 28, 2013, may be submitted.
Every New
Jersey college newspaper is emailed contest entry
instructions in mid-January. If your newspaper didn't
receive this email, please call New Jersey Press
Foundation at 609-406-0600, ext. 13.
The email
will give detailed instructions for submitting entries
digitally. The contest entry deadline is March 8, 2013
at 11:59 p.m. Below are the contest instructions, or you
may download the PDF:
Contest Rules
There are 12 individual categories and two newspaper
categories. Here is the list of the
categories.
Newspapers may submit three entries for each of the 12
categories for individual student work and one entry for
each of the two newspaper categories
–
a total of up to 38 possible
entries per newspaper. Each individual entry may include
two examples of a student’s work. The newspaper
categories
– layout
and general excellence
–
are limited to one entry
each, which may include two examples.
Entry Fees: $8 per entry for 1-27 entries submitted. The
maximum is $220 per newspaper, for any number of entries
over 27 and up to 38. The fee is for the number of
entries submitted, NOT the number of examples, i.e., two
examples are allowed for each single entry.
Four-year and two-year colleges will be judged as
separate divisions, with separate awards presented in
each.
All entries must be submitted in digital form
as PDFs of the entire printed or online pages on which
articles, photographs or illustrations appeared. The
newspaper entries also must be submitted as PDFs.
For details, please refer to the Entry Instructions
here or in the
Contest Rules.
The
top editor or newspaper faculty adviser must verify that
each entry follows the rules of the contest and is
presented as it appeared in newspapers delivered on
campus or online.
All
Entry
fees must be paid by March 30, 2013 to be eligible.
Winners will be announced on this
website on April 4, 2013. Winners may order duplicate
plaques and certificates using
this form.
Award
recipients will be honored at the
NJCPA Spring Awards Program & Luncheon on April 20,
2013. More details below.
Description of Contest Categories
Overview
Preference
in judging is given to entries covering local campus
events and college life. Quality journalistic writing,
photography, artistic illustrations and design are the
primary basis for evaluating entries.
Quality of
ledes, handling of quotes, background and supporting
information for articles, and smooth transition of story
elements are considered as part of a holistic appraisal
of each writing-category entry.
The quality
of the entire newspaper is considered for the General
Excellence category. The judges consider the overall
"look and feel" of the newspaper and how it appeals to
readers. Please read the category descriptions below for
additional judging criteria.
Individual Awards
A maximum of
THREE individual entries per category may be submitted
by each newspaper. A student may be entered once in each
category. Articles written by two or more staff members
working as a team will be considered as one entry.
However, that doesn’t prohibit a team member from
submitting a second individual entry in that category.
An entry consists of up to TWO writing samples,
photographs or illustrations by the same student or
team. A sidebar to a story may be submitted as the
second writing sample in an entry.
NEWS WRITING: Coverage of a college-related
event, situation or issue qualifies as hard news. To be
judged on fairness, thoroughness, local interest and
style. Two writing samples may be submitted with each
entry.
DEADLINE REPORTING: News coverage of a breaking
news story that happened on or near campus no more than
48 hours prior to publication. This does NOT include
sports or arts events, nor planned interviews or
features. To be judged on fairness, thoroughness, style
and the presentation of helpful information that kept
the campus community up to date. Two writing samples may
be submitted with each entry.
FEATURE WRITING: An article on a place, object or
situation that is college-related and/or of special
interest to students (including sports features). While
the standards of good news writing apply, feature
writing is judged on originality and human interest. Two
writing samples may be submitted with each entry.
BIOGRAPHY / PERSONALITY PROFILE: An article about
a person or small group of special interest to students
(including sports personalities). While the standards of
good news writing apply, feature writing is judged on
originality and human interest. Two writing samples may
be submitted with each entry.
EDITORIAL WRITING: Editorial entries should be on
issues of special interest to the college or to
students. Judging will be based on writing quality,
depth of thought, courage, public service and persuasive
ability. Two writing samples may be submitted with each
entry.
COLUMN / OPINION WRITING: A column or opinion
article on an issue of special interest to the college
or to students (including sports columns, but NOT
including arts & entertainment or critical writing). To
be judged on quality of writing, depth of thought,
courage, public service and persuasive ability. Does not
include editorials, which are articles that represent
the opinion of the newspaper rather than the individual
writer. Two writing samples may be submitted with each
entry.
SPORTS WRITING: A sports news story based on
college-related sports activities. Judged on quality of
writing, originality, local appeal and lack of sports
clichés. Two writing samples may be submitted with each
entry. Please note: Sports columns must be
entered in the Opinion Writing category. Sports features
must be entered in the Feature Writing category.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT / CRITICAL WRITING: An
article that recognizes opinion writing in such areas as
art, theater, movie, book and restaurant reviews.
Judging will be based on technical knowledge, writing
quality and local appeal to college students. Two
writing samples may be submitted with each entry.
ENTERPRISE / INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING: An
investigative article or in-depth report that uncovers a
newsworthy happening or series of happenings on campus.
The judges will consider enterprise, initiative and
resourcefulness of the writer or team of writers. Two
writing samples may be submitted with each entry.
GENERAL PHOTOGRAPHY: Any photo or photo series
(picture story) of college or student activities.
Entries will be evaluated primarily on composition,
content and local appeal. Photographs of competitive
sporting events and individuals participating in
competitive sporting events must be entered in the
Sports Photography category. Two photo samples may be
submitted with each entry.
SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY: Any photo or photo series of
competitive college sports. Entries will be evaluated
primarily on composition, content and local appeal. Two
photo samples may be submitted in each entry.
EDITORIAL CARTOON / ARTISTIC STORY ILLUSTRATION:
Entries will be judged on newsworthiness, originality
and artistry. If the entry relates to other content on
the page it will be evaluated on how well it illustrates
that content. Two artistic samples may be submitted in
each entry.
Newspaper Awards
Newspapers may submit one
entry per category, with TWO examples per entry.
LAYOUT & DESIGN: The layout and design of
specific pages or center-spreads will be considered in
this category. Major judging factors include overall
attractiveness, excellence of makeup, headlines,
typography, special visual and verbal aids to the
reader, and use of photos, illustrations and graphics.
Newspapers may submit PDF tearsheets of TWO pages or
center-spreads as a single entry.
GENERAL EXCELLENCE: An overall look at the
coverage, writing quality, copy editing, style use and
layout in the newspaper. Judging will take local appeal,
effectiveness and readability into account. Newspapers
should submit PDFs of TWO different and complete issues
of the paper as a single entry.
PLEASE NOTE …
-
All entries become the property of New Jersey Press
Foundation.
-
The contest will be judged by active and retired
editors, senior reporters, photographers and graphic
artists from New Jersey daily and weekly newspapers.
-
The judges' decisions are final.
How to Submit Entries
Entries to the New Jersey
College Newspaper Contest will be submitted using a
web-based program at
http://betternewspapercontest.com/.
For best results, Better
Newspaper Contest recommends using the most recent
version of Mozilla Firefox to make your entries.
Below are directions for
preparing and submitting entries.
Or download a PDF of the
Contest Rules and
Entry Instructions.
If you have
questions or problems, please contact John O’Brien at
(609) 406-0600, ext. 13 or
jjobrien@njpa.org.
Entry
Deadline for the 2012-2013 Contest is March 8, 2013
New for this year’s contest
Username and Password:
Each person submitting entries will create a unique
username and password.
Contestant Manager:
The “Contestant Manager” controls what is entered in a
contest for your newspaper or website.
Important: The
first person who logs into the contest and makes two
entries becomes your Contestant Manager. These
first two entries may be test entries. You can
delete them later, after responding to the
confirmation email from Better Newspaper Contest and
making actual entries.
The Contestant
Manager can choose to make entries exclusively or
authorize others to make entries. To allow others to
make entries, the Contestant Manager must create a
separate account for each person.
The Contestant
Manager has access to all entries submitted to a
contest for your newspaper or website, and can edit,
disable or delete any entry.
The Contestant
Manager can access account information and passwords
for every person he/she authorizes to make entries.
Authorized Entrant:
Each person the Contestant Manager gives permission to
make entries is an “Authorized Entrant”.
While the Contestant
Manager can see and edit all of the entries and
account information, the Authorized Entrant only can
see and edit the entries he/she made.
Scrapbooks:
Potential contestants can save their work on the Better
Newspaper Contest website in their own Scrapbook
accounts.
Once a contestant has
been made an Authorized Entrant for a contest,
he/she can upload content from his/her Scrapbook
directly into an entry.
Contestant Managers
do not interact with user Scrapbooks.
Start early and
become familiar with the process!
We strongly recommend
that you start making your entries early. Certainly
don’t wait until the day before the deadline!
Step-by-step directions
for setting up accounts and making entries are available
on the contest website –
www.betternewspapercontest.com. Under “Contestant
Login”, click on “Contestant Manager Help” or
“Authorized Entrant Help”.
Or use these links for
PDFs of the directions:
Contestant Managers
http://betterbncsupport.com/images/ContestantManager_Instructions_4_3.pdf
Authorized
Entrants
http://betterbncsupport.com/images/AuthorizedEntrant_Instructions_4_3.pdf
When setting up the
Contestant Manager, if you are not ready to submit
actual entries, we suggest you make two test entries to
learn the process. Later, these test entries should be
“disabled” so they are not part of your official
entries.
CREATING USERS AND
PASSWORDS
The
first person who logs into the contest and makes two
entries becomes your Contestant Manager. The “Contestant
Manager” controls what is entered in a contest for your
newspaper or website.
Go to
www.betternewspapercontest.com.
Click on
“Contestant Login".
Select
"Contestant Manager” and choose “NJ College Newspaper
Contest 2012-13" and your newspaper’s name from the
drop-down lists.
In the
password box, enter the temporary password bnc
(case sensitive).
Press "Login".
Enter a new
private password and the contact information requested.
This password will be used by only by the Contestant
Manager. Press "Submit."
Submit
two entries. (These may be test entries that you delete
later.)
You
will receive a confirmation email from Better Newspaper
Contest. Follow the directions in the message. You must
respond to this email to validate your account.
Once confirmed
as the Contestant Manager, begin setting up “Authorized
Entrant” accounts for each person who will be permitted
to make entries.
To do this, go
to the bottom of the “My Account” page and click on “Add
More”.
Enter the
information for each Authorized Entrant and click on the
“Enable” box.
For
step-by-step directions, go
www.betternewspapercontest.com and click on
“Contestant Manager Help” or “Authorized Entrant Help.”
Contest definitions
Division: a
specific contest, e.g., “Individual” or “Newspaper”
Category: a
specific competition within a contest division, e.g.,
“News Writing” or “General Photography”. Each division
has a number of categories, which have specific
requirements and limitations that are explained in the
contest rules.
Entry: a
submission in a category. Each category permits a
specific number of entries. For example, a newspaper may
submit two entries in the “Deadline Reporting” category,
but only one in the “Layout & Design” category. The
contest rules provide specific information.
Some categories require
multiple examples as part of each entry, e.g., several
columns as part of a writing portfolio. In this case,
ALL of the examples for the entry should be uploaded in
a single PDF, e.g., two tearsheets containing the
columns as separate pages in one PDF. For information on
how to combine multiple tearsheets into one PDF, see
“Preparing your entries” on the next page.
Preparing your
entries
Keep the judges happy!
Don’t make them wait for
your PDFs to be displayed because a file is too large.
Entries that the judges cannot view will be
disqualified.
Maximum entry size:
Each entry should be less
than 5 MB. Smaller is better, faster.
Eliminate extra
pages. Upload only the page on which the entry is
located.
For multiple-example
entries, combine all examples into one PDF.
Reduce the size of
each PDF.
Extract pages from multi-page PDFs:
If your entry is part of
a multi-page PDF, open the PDF and save it with a new
name. Open the new PDF, go to “Document” menu, select
“Extract Pages” and follow the directions. Eliminate all
pages that are NOT part of your entry.
Combine multiple PDFs
into one
Open the PDF that you
want first in your entry and save it with a new name.
Open the new PDF, go to the “Document” menu and choose
“Insert Pages”. Navigate to the PDF that you want next
in the entry and select it. Continue until you have
inserted all of your pages.
Make PDF files smaller
For printing, most
newspaper PDFs include high-resolution grayscale or
color images. However, contest entries will be viewed
and judged on computer screens at low resolution (72–96
dpi) and in RGB color. Changing the resolution and color
mode of images are the two most effective ways to reduce
file size without sacrificing the screen viewing
quality.
Use lower resolution
In PDFs, the text is
clear regardless of resolution. Resolution only relates
to photos and graphics. Reducing resolution by half can
reduce an image file size by 75%. The recommended
maximum resolution of 96 dpi can be enforced in your
Adobe Distiller settings.
You might create an Adobe
PDF Preset called “NJPA Contest” with the recommended
settings, and share it with all the Contestant Managers
and Authorized Users in your company.
Or simply use the
“Smallest File Size” preset, instead of “High Quality
Print” or “Press Quality”.
Convert images to RGB
color mode
Converting images from
CMYK color mode to RGB will reduce image files by about
25%. This color conversion can be enforced in your
Distiller settings.
Embed all fonts
Regardless, how you make
your PDFs, make sure ALL fonts are embedded. The judges
will not have the same fonts as you have. If the PDF is
missing fonts, your entry will not display properly.
Redistill PDFs
After making final
adjustments to your PDF, redistill it to make it
smaller.
Changes you made to your
PDF may not yield the expected reduction in file size
until you redistill the PDF. This is true even if you
reduce resolution or change color mode using a PDF
editor, like Enfocus Pitstop or Quite a Box of Tricks,
or use the native profiling/editing tools in Acrobat 6
or later.
To redistill, open the
PDF in Adobe Acrobat. Go to the “Advanced” menu, scroll
down to “Print Production” and select “Acrobat
Distiller”. Enter the settings recommended above or
choose the preset that you created and be sure that ALL
fonts are embedded.
Web entries
All website entries must
be accessible online to the judges.
Provide a direct URL
for each entry, to a permanent location on your web
server.
If a username and
password are required to access the website, please
enter those details in the “Comments” box on the
entry page.
If the judge cannot
access your entry, it will be disqualified.
Also, upload a screenshot
of each entry, in PDF or JPEG format, for the slide
presentation of winning entries shown during the award
ceremony.
Making entries
Headline or Title of
Entry
Remember that you are
submitting full-page PDFs, so please make sure your
titles accurately identify the items the judges need to
locate on the pages!
In the “Headline or
Title of Entry” box, enter the headline of the
article or photo being uploaded, exactly as it
appears on the page.
DO NOT use just the
name of the writer or photographer.
For categories that
require more than one example per entry, you may use
the name of the writer or photographer if it is
obvious on every example in the entry. Otherwise,
list all of the headlines or titles, separated by
two slashes like this:
Title1 // Title2
DO NOT use commas,
semicolons, colons, dashes or single slashes to
separate entry titles. Often these punctuations
marks are used in headlines, but two consecutive
slashes are rare.
Credits
In the boxes labeled “Who
should be credited for this entry?” you can enter up to
four names of people who worked on the entry.
In the box titled
“First Name” list the FULL name: Joe Green
In the box titled
“Last Name” list that person’s title: Reporter,
Editor, etc.
If more than four
people worked on the project, enter: Editorial
Staff, etc.
Official Entry Form
Once you have completed
the entry form, click on the “Submit” button and you
will be taken to the entry verification page, titled
“This Page is Your Official Entry Form.”
From the verification
page, you can “Submit Another Entry”, “Manage
Entries” or “Logout”.
DO NOT hit the Back
button or you may eliminate this entry!
Once the maximum number
of entries is reached in a category, that category is no
longer available unless an entry is “disabled” using
“Manage Entries”.
You may print copies of
the Official Entry Form for your use, but do not send
them to NJPF.
The deadline for all
entries is Friday, March 8, 2013 at 11:59 p.m.
If you have questions or
problems, please contact John O’Brien:
(609) 406-0600, ext. 13 ●
jjobrien@njpa.org
Contest Winners
Winners may order duplicate plaques and
certificates using
this form.
Here are the
results in prior New Jersey College Newspaper Contests:
2011-2012 Winners
2010-2011 Winners
2009-2010 Winners
Spring Awards
Presentation
New Jersey
Collegiate Press Association's Spring Awards
Program & Luncheon will be held on Saturday, April 20, 2013 at
the Courtyard Marriott Cranbury-South Brunswick, 420
Forsgate Drive, Cranbury (NJ Turnpike exit 8A).
The seminar
and luncheon is designed to help and recognize New
Jersey college newspapers and their staffs as they
strive to excel. Registration opens at 10 am. The
program starts at 10:30 am. The awards luncheon begins
at 12:15 pm.
Awards for
the NJ College Newspaper Contest will be presented at
the luncheon.
First-place
winners will receive plaques. All other award recipients
will be receive certificates. Separate awards will be
presented to winners from two-year colleges and
four-year colleges. Also, separate awards will be
presented in the two newspaper categories, based on the
frequency of publication.
A "Sweepstakes Award" will also be presented to the
four-year and the two-year college newspaper that
accumulate the highest number of points based on the
awards received in the 12 individual contest categories
and the layout & design category. Three points will be
given for each first place, two points for each second
place and one point for each third place awarded.
The cost to attend is $22 per person and includes both
the seminar and the awards luncheon.
For more information and to RSVP:
College Awards Program
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