2003 News: SABEW Best in Business Contest Update
The Daily Section contest rules state: One section from either Monday or Thursday published in 2002. The entry form states: One section from either Monday or Wednesday. In an effort to minimize confusion and to maintain fairness the contest chair has ruled that SABEW will accept entries from any of the three days.
That means, in addition to the three mandatory dates, an additional Sunday section and a section from a Friday or Saturday, you must submit a section from a Monday, Wednesday or Thursday.
* * *
The ninth annual Best in Business contest will identify outstanding daily business sections and business weeklies that distinguished themselves in 2002 and honor outstanding breaking news, spot enterprise and projects published during the year.
Awards will be presented at SABEW’s 2003 Annual Conference in Boston on April 27-29.
Judges are top professionals who look for well-written, well-coordinated section packages, and innovative, thorough and engaging stories and story packages. Contestants compete against others at papers of similar size.
In the Section Contest, up to five awards will be presented in each size category. Judges can also award certificates of merit for elements of business coverage that are groundbreaking, unique or impressive.
Up to three awards are presented in each size category for news stories.
The contest is open to SABEW members only. See the “eligibility rules” for more information.
ENTRY DEADLINES
Entries — which must include a completed entry form and payment for entry fees — must be postmarked by Feb. 11, 2003, and mailed to SABEW at the University of Missouri. (The address is on the entry form.) Entries become the property of SABEW and will not be returned. Winning entries will be displayed at the annual conference and may be used in printed and multimedia presentations.
Entries that don’t follow contest rules may be disqualified. Winners will be notified by April 1. Judges’ decisions and rulings by SABEW’s Contest Committee are final.
CONTEST ELIGIBILITY
Daily sections or weeklies may be entered if one or more staffers are SABEW members current on dues.
To enter the News Contest, individuals must be SABEW members current on dues (institutional or individual) and can submit up to two entries that must include their byline. Newspapers or real-time providers can submit up to two additional entries as long as they have a currently active SABEW membership, i.e., a business editor who is a SABEW member may submit a story from a reporter who is not a SABEW member on behalf of the newspaper.
Call 573-882-7862 if you want to check your membership status.
Got questions?
For clarification of rules, submission guidelines or
more information on the Best in Business contests, call Randy Picht, contest chair, at rpicht@ap.org or 212-621-1685 or Carrie Paden, SABEW’s executive director, at padenc@missouri.edu or 573-882-7862.
News Contest
Entry Rules
There are three categories in the News Contest:
Breaking News
Judges will look for superior coverage of breaking news, particularly stories that broke the same day and were generally unexpected. The stories should involve dogged and comprehensive efforts to gather the necessary elements of a great news story including explanation, context and perspective.
An entry consists of no more than seven articles, all on the same day reflecting work on deadline. If you choose to submit more than seven stories for judges to use as background, please make sure you clearly MARK THE SEVEN STORIES you want to be judged. Your entry could be disqualified otherwise.
Spot Enterprise
Judges will look for superior coverage of developments that don’t necessarily involve same-day coverage of an event or announcement but are otherwise timely. These stories may involve a broader look at an issue, trend or development recently or soon to be in the news. Some examples include explanatory pieces, analyses or trend stories.
An entry consists of one story. If you choose to submit more than one story for judges to use as background, please make sure you clearly MARK THE ONE STORY you want to be judged. Your entry could be disqualified otherwise.
NEW! Projects
Judges will look for superior coverage of an important issue, trend or development that is NOT time-sensitive and involves an extremely thorough examination of a topic making use of exhaustive reporting, data analysis or cultivation of sources.
An entry consists of up to five stories from one day or different days. If you choose to submit more than five stories (i.e., additional parts of a series) for judges to use as background, please make sure you clearly MARK THE FIVE STORIES you want to be judged. Your entry could be disqualified otherwise.
Up to three winners will be named in each category. The contest is open to daily newspapers, business weeklies and real-time news providers.
Individuals may submit up to two entries, and media institutions may submit up to two entries for stories with joint bylines. Stories in the contest are limited to staff employed full-time when the story was produced and published in 2002. Part-time employees and freelance writers aren’t eligible.
Supporting documents and a background letter to judges that briefly describe the obstacles the story presented, when the story broke in relation to the deadline and other details that might be relevant, may also be included with an entry. Just the facts, though. Judges aren’t looking for sales pitches.
Entrants should submit one original (mounted on 8 1/2 x 14 paper) and three photocopies using 8 1/2 x 14 paper. If an original copy is not available, four photocopies are acceptable. Real-time news providers are encouraged to submit entries from public archives but may also submit stories from their own archives. All must include publication time, date and the archive source. Screenshots may also be submitted as supporting documents.
Categories
Daily newspapers will compete in circulation-based categories:
• Small papers, circulation up to 125,000
• Mid-sized, 125,001 to 250,000
• Large, 250,001 to 375,000
• Giant, 375,001 and above
There is one category each for all real-time news providers and all business weeklies.
Fees
The entry fee for Breaking News, Spot Enterprise or Projects category is $25 per entry for current SABEW members. Non-members entering the SABEW contests may join SABEW for a one-time price of $60, which includes the fee of $25 for one spot news entry. Regular annual membership to SABEW is $40 and covers no contest entry fees.
Section Contest
Entry Rules
Judges will be looking at six different publication days (five for weekly entrants) in the Section Contest. The contest committee chooses three dates. Editors may choose the other dates.
MANDATORY DATES
Each newspaper and business weekly must submit their publications for these three mandatory dates, which were picked at random in accordance with contest rules:
Daily
• Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2002
• Tuesday, July 9, 2002
• Sunday, Nov. 17, 2002
Weeklies (publication date
on or between)
• Sunday, Jan. 27 and Saturday, Feb. 2
• Sunday, July 7 and Saturday, July 13
• Sunday, Nov. 17 and Saturday, Nov. 23
Papers that don’t publish on weekends and papers that don’t publish a Monday business section are covered under the Miscellaneous Rules section below.
EDITOR’S CHOICE DATES
Entrants also choose their own dates — three for newspapers, two for business weeklies. In addition, daily entrants may also submit one special section produced predominantly by the business staff. Weekly entrants can also include one special edition with the submission. The contest is limited to sections and editions published during 2002.
Guidelines
• For daily newspapers
Editor’s choice dates must be chosen in accordance with these contest rules, which ensure that judges see a representative sample of your newspaper:
1. One section from either a Monday, Wenesday or Thursday published in 2002.
2. One section from either a Friday or Saturday published in 2002.
3. One additional Sunday section published in 2002 (see Miscellaneous Rules below).
Submit four original, unmounted, uncut copies of the section for each mandatory and Editor’s Choice dates. (That’s a total of 24 sections; 28 if you’re including a special section) If four originals aren’t available, send at least one original plus three full-size photocopies.
If business stories appeared in other sections (Page One, in the local section, or in special sections) clips of those business stories may be included and should be mounted on or photocopied on 8 1/2 x 14 sheet(s) as part of that day’s entry. Include the paper’s name and the date on the upper left-hand corner of the clipping; attach extra stories to the day’s section that they supplement.
• For weekly publications
Submit five original copies of your publications representing the mandatory and Editor’s Choice dates. (That’s a total of 25 editions; 30 if you submit a special section) If five originals aren’t available, send at least one original plus four photocopies.
Editor’s Choice entries are from any two weeks in 2002 other than the mandatory weeks.
SECTION CATEGORIES/FEES
For Daily entrants, circulation categories are based on average daily circulation (total weekly circulation for daily and Sunday editions divided by the number of days the paper is published.) Entry fees vary by circulation and publication category. The daily circulation contest categories are as follows:
• Small papers, circulation up to 125,000. Entry fee is $75.
• Mid-sized, 125,001 to 250,000, fee is $100.
• Large, 250,001 to 375,000, fee is $125
• Giant, 375,001 and above, fee is $150
• For Weekly entrants, all circulations compete in one group. Entry fee is $100
MISCELLANEOUS RULES
If your paper does not publish Sundays, submit the Saturday, Nov. 16, or Monday, Nov. 18, edition to cover your mandatory Sunday paper. Papers that don’t publish Sunday may submit a Saturday or Monday section to complete the Editor’s Choice section.
If your paper publishes a joint Sunday edition as part of a joint operating agreement, you must submit the Sunday edition if it is truly joint and reflects the efforts of your staff. (The joint Sunday paper should then be included in your average daily circulation.) If, however, your paper is joint in name only—if your staff does not contribute to it—follow the rules for papers that don’t publish on Sundays.
Call contest committee chair or SABEW headquarters if you have questions or want a ruling.
