Chesapeake Associated Press
Broadcasters Association

2011 RADIO & TELEVISION CONTEST RULES

Click here to download official rules.

Click here to download entry form.


The Associated Press Broadcasters Association radio and television news award competition is open to all Maryland, Delaware and District of Columbia broadcast members of The Associated Press.

NEW THIS YEAR:

BEST OF SHOW AWARDS!

The judges will single out entries from this year’s contest which are the best of the best. There will be one honoree from radio and one from television. The Best of Show winners will not be announced until the awards banquet in June. No formal entries are required.

ENTER ONLINE

The CAPBA Board has partnered with betternewspapercontest.com to make submitting your entries to the 2011 CAPBA Contest easier. No more CDs! No more DVDs! No more expensive postage! All entries will be submitted online. Instructions on how to enter the contest can be found at the bottom of this document.

The competition runs by calendar year, January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2011.

Entries must be submitted online no later than

Wednesday, March 7, 2012.

***A check covering the appropriate entry fees must be in our hands by Monday, March 12, 2012 or your entry will not be judged!

All checks must be made out to the

CHESAPEAKE NEWS ASSOCIATION.

Entry fees are as follows:

TV STATIONS - $50 per entry.

METRO RADIO STATIONS -- $30 per entry or $40 if only one entry.

NON-METRO RADIO STATIONS -- $25 per entry or $30 if only one entry.

All television entries are considered in one of four classifications: (1) Baltimore Metro; (2) Washington Metro; (3) Wilmington Metro; (4) Non-Metro. There are four radio classifications: (1) Baltimore Metro; (2) Washington Metro; (3) Wilmington Metro; (4) Non-Metro.

Awards are presented at the annual meeting of the Chesapeake AP Broadcasters' Association. Only one award is made in each category. An award must be given in each category in which there is an entry. The judges may declare a tie in any category, in which case equal awards will be presented.

The winners will be notified as soon as possible after the judges have reached their decision. The general membership of the CAPBA will be notified only that the winners have been chosen. NO PUBLIC RELEASE BY THE WINNERS IS PERMITTED UNTIL THE EVENING THE AWARDS ARE PRESENTED.

GENERAL RULES

1. A station may submit more than one entry in each category except Outstanding News Operation, Outstanding Year-Round Sports and Outstanding Newscast. In those three categories, a station may submit only one entry. THERE WILL BE NO MULTIPLE ENTERING OF THE SAME ENTRY IN DIFFERENT CATEGORIES. In all categories except Outstanding Spot News Reporting, entries may consist of a series of related stories.

2. Neither radio nor TV entries may be doctored to improve original quality or content. For example, scripts cannot be rewritten, or a story originally fed by two-way cannot be submitted as if it were of line quality.

3. A station may enter work performed by free-lancers, stringers or outside agencies under the direction of the news department. But each outside source may be entered by only one station subscribing to its services.

CATEGORIES

1. OUTSTANDING SPOT NEWS REPORTING:

Entries should consist of enterprise and complete treatment of one spot news story. Entry is limited to 15 minutes.

2. OUTSTANDING NEWS SERIES:

Entries should exhibit exceptional coverage of a single subject reported in series of reports in an unspecified number of segments. Entry is limited to 20 minutes.

3. OUTSTANDING COVERAGE OF A CONTINUING STORY:

Entries should exhibit outstanding continuing coverage of a major developing story. Entry should include several reports. Entry length is limited to 20 minutes.

4. OUTSTANDING USE OF SOUND (RADIO ONLY):

Submit an entry showing creative use of sound to tell a story on radio. Entry must be exactly as heard on air. Entry is limited to 10 minutes.

5. OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY OR IN-DEPTH REPORTING:

This award is offered for outstanding examples of in-depth coverage of a community problem or a significant news event. Entries may be a single report or a series of reports. Entry may be 30 minutes long.

6. OUTSTANDING YEAR-ROUND LOCAL SPORTS COVERAGE:

Entries should show one or more examples of the station's non-network coverage of sports during the contest year. Examples may include play-by-play, interviews, action, and excerpts from sports broadcasts, sports series or specials dealing with local sports, and so on. Entry limited to 30 minutes.

7. OUTSTANDING EDITORIAL OR COMMENTARY:

Entries should show exceptional initiative or courage in presenting editorial comment on a specific issue. A single editorial will suffice, although a series on the same subject may be entered to illustrate an editorial campaign. Entry is limited to 15 minutes.

8. OUTSTANDING PUBLIC AFFAIRS PROGRAM OR SERIES:

This award is offered for outstanding examples of comprehensive, informed and effective radio and television public service reporting. The entry may be either an instance of unusually thorough news or special coverage of an event of importance to the community served; or the effective presentation, through news and documentary stories, programs or series of stories and/or programs prepared by the station, of issues affecting the community's interest and well-being. Judges are instructed to pay particular attention to initiative, planning, and comprehensiveness of coverage, clarity, interest, vision and understanding in promoting the public welfare, usefulness and reaction in terms of goals sought. Entry limited to 30 minutes.

9. OUTSTANDING ENTERPRISE REPORTING:

An award to a reporter who in the opinion of the judges develops through his or her own initiative a news story with the most impact on the station's coverage area. The intention of this award is to recognize the reporter's enterprise in digging up a story that would not have been told without his or her effort. Entry limited to 15 minutes.

10. OUTSTANDING FEATURE OR HUMAN INTEREST STORY:

Entries may be limited to a single report or may include excerpts from a related series. But in no event shall the entry exceed 15 minutes.

11. OUTSTANDING SPORTS FEATURE:

Entries may be limited to a single report or may include excerpts from a related series. But in no event shall the entry exceed 15 minutes.

12. OUTSTANDING TELEVISION PHOTOGRAPHY:

This award is presented to that TV photojournalist who in the opinion of the judges has produced the best quality and imagination in capturing a story or stories on tape. Entries may be a single news story or several stories. Entry limited to 15 minutes.

13. OUTSTANDING SPECIALTY REPORTING:

Entries will be accepted from a beat reporter in a specialist area: i.e. consumer, health, science, business, environment, and education. Entries will be considered on the basis of how well they convey important information about a topic within a specialist area. This reporter regularly covers this beat. Entry limited to 15 minutes.

14. OUTSTANDING WEATHERCAST (TV ONLY):

Stations/individuals may enter a weathercast that aired on any date from January 1, 2011-December 31, 2011 .

15. OUTSTANDING NEWSCAST:

Stations may enter a regularly scheduled newscast that aired on the following dates in 2011: February 8th, May 11th, July 21st or November 16th . Only one entry per station.

16. OUTSTANDING NEWS OPERATION OF THE YEAR:

Entries will be judged on two factors:

A. Written summation of the station's innovation and accomplishments in news during the year with a description of its general news operation stating why it considers that operation the best in its classification.

B. Examples of the representative news programs or a raw composite of the individual stories or series. The examples may include tape submitted in other categories. Individual elements may not be re-edited and fancy presentation production tapes should be avoided. Entry limited to 30 minutes.

17. OUTSTANDING TALK SHOW (Radio Only):

Best example of a regularly-scheduled, locally originated, news-oriented talk show program. Entries must include listener call-in component. 30-minute time limit. Delete all commercial breaks, but no other editing may be done. Entries can include a written summary. Limit two entries per station.

18. OUTSTANDING WEB SITE:

This award will be given to a station which effectively uses its web site to disseminate news and information.

Site will be judged in real time, as judges will be asked to view each web site on the same day. Criteria shall include overall appearance, news/sports content, ease of navigation, variety of information available, relevant links, interactivity, use of audio, video and other technologies, and whether it appears to be a valuable resource to the community served by the station. Entrants must generate their own news content, in addition to any content generated from providers such as wire services or networks.

Entrants must submit the website address, and up to three URLs in the same domain (to highlight specific features or web pages that are no longer “live”, e.g. an election page).

19. BEST REPORTER

Entry should highlight an individual reporter’s work during the year. Entry may include live and/or recorded single stories, spot news coverage, and/or other examples of how the reporter contributed to the news organization. Entry should demonstrate the reporter’s ability to cover a story, including writing and execution. Entry is limited to 15 minutes.

20. VIDEO JOURNALIST/ONE MAN BAND REPORTER (TV ONLY):

For excellence by a single individual, covering a single or multi-part news story aired within a regularly scheduled television newscast or distributed as a video link on an AP member organization's website. The video journalist acts as a cross-discipline producer, serving as photojournalist, reporter, editor, talent, producer and web reporter for the story. A single story or composite may be entered. 10-minute limit.

21. MULTIMEDIA/ONLINE JOURNALISM (RADIO ONLY):

For excellence by a single radio reporter in reporting a story on air and online simultaneously. Entries may consist of one main URL and up to 3 sub URL's in the same domain. Entries should include effective use of any combination of, or all of, the following media created by the individual: text, still photos, audio files, video, graphics, links and social tools. Audio and/or video may be links to web-based versions of content that was broadcast on-air. Emphasis will be placed on the effective blending of multiple media into a single web portal.

22. MULTIMEDIA/ONLINE JOURNALISM (TELEVISION ONLY):

For excellence by a single television reporter in reporting a story on air and online simultaneously. Entries may consist of one main URL and up to 3 sub URL's in the same domain. Entries should include effective use of any combination of, or all of, the following media created by the individual: text, still photos, audio files, video, graphics, links and social tools. Audio and/or video may be links to web-based versions of content that was broadcast on-air. Emphasis will be placed on the effective blending of multiple media into a single web portal.

23. CERTIFICATE FOR OUTSTANDING NEWS PROTECTION OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS :

These will be awarded by The AP staff in Baltimore and Washington, taking into consideration such factors as regularity and promptness with which a station contributes news; its reliability; and the value of the news contributed. No awards will be made on the basis of quantity alone. Generally, no less than a total of three or more than six certificates will be awarded annually, but exceptions may be made in unusual circumstances. No formal entries are required.

HOW TO ENTER

IMPORTANT: Please make sure to use a recent version of Mozilla Firefox (3.0 or higher) or Internet Explorer, and that you have an updated Adobe Flash Player for the browser you will use to make entries.

The deadline for all entries is March 7, 2012.

Before you enter—all entry audio/video files must be uploaded to your station’s web site, your personal web site or YouTube. You cannot upload an entry to the betterbnc.com web site. We understand that stories containing professional sports highlights are not allowed to be placed on your station’s web site. We suggest you upload those entries to a private YouTube page or a link on your web site that is not available to the public.

1. Login:

  1. Go to www.betterbnc.com .
  2. Under “Are you a contestant?”, click Login Here.
  3. Select the appropriate Contest.
  4. Select the appropriate News Organization.
  5. Enter your temporary password: bnc (lower case), and click Login. When you first login, the system will prompt you to create a secure password (one for each listed news organization). If you set the new password for your organization, please make sure to share it with others who may be making entries.

2. Submit Entries:

  1. On the Manage Entries page, click Submit Entry (left side).
  2. Select the appropriate Division (a larger grouping of categories).
  3. Select the appropriate Category.
  4. (If applicable) Read the corresponding Category Note (directly below the Category selection box), describing what is expected for the category’s entry content.
  5. Complete the Headline/Title field.
  6. Based on the type of entry, add content:

i. To upload digital file attachments (other than audio/video) , click Browse, navigate to the desired file, select Open, and click Upload. Allowed file types are PDF, DOC, TXT, JPG, GIF, and PNG. If more than one attachment is desired for this entry, repeat these steps. If you reach a point where you cannot add any more attachments to an entry, you may have reached the attachments limit, set by your contest administrator. Please try to keep file sizes to 5mb or less, to aid judges in accessing entry content. For larger files (between 5-50mb), you may upload your file(s) to www.issuu.com , and copy and paste the URL into the Web URL field.

ii. To add web/audio/video content, copy and paste the content’s web address into the provided Web URL field. To host your content online, either upload it to a free streaming content website (e.g. YouTube) or talk to your IT person about adding it to your station’s website. Make sure the content will be accessible online throughout the contest and awards process. Here are some examples of free streaming content websites where you can upload audio and video content:

Audio: www.kiwi6.com , www.tindeck.com

Video: www.youtube.com , www.vimeo.com

IMPORTANT: Please ensure that items are not behind a paywall or a password-protected area. If they are, you must provide username/password info in the Comments section of your entry. Judges may disqualify your entry if work samples are inaccessible.

iii. To create an entry for a mail-in, hardcopy-only category (e.g. tearsheets), DO NOT UPLOAD A FILE OR ADD WEBSITE URL CONTENT. Simply complete all other content fields.

  1. Click Next.
  2. Add Credits for those responsible for the entry content.
  3. Add Comments (if available), but keep them brief (e.g. 100 words).
  4. Click Submit.
  5. For hardcopy/mail-in entry categories, print and attach the entry label (which automatically appears after each entry is submitted) to each hardcopy item and follow contest shipping instructions (contact the contest administrator for more info).
3. Payment for Entries
    1. When all entries are submitted (but before the Entry Deadline), log in to your account's Manage Entries page.
    2. Click Calculate Entry Fee (middle right) and review your list of entries for accuracy.
    3. Scroll to the bottom of the list for your Entry Fee Subtotal (lower right).
    4. Click the payment link (lower left) to pay for your contest entries, following the instructions on the payment page.
    1. (Optional) Click the Print icon (upper right) to print your list of entries and fees.
    2. All checks must be made out to CHESAPEAKE NEWS ASSOCIATION and must arrive in the AP DC Bureau by March 12, 2012.
    3. Please include the completed entry form available for download from capba.org.
    4. All checks and completed forms should be mailed to:

    Sabrena Pringle
    The Associated Press
    1100 13th Street, NW
    Suite 700
    Washington, DC 20005

    If you have questions, please contact Sabrena Pringle at (202) 641-9666, or springle@ap.org.