Society of Professional Journalists: Mark of Excellence Awards

Entry deadline: The entry deadline for the 2009 Mark of Excellence Awards has passed.

Enter online
For the first time, nominations for the Mark of Excellence Awards will take place through an online entry form. The deadline is fast approaching, so enter online today!

(Some exceptions apply. Please review the rules below and category-specific criteria at this link.)

Annually, the Society of Professional Journalists presents the Mark of Excellence Awards honoring the best in student journalism. The awards offer categories for print, radio, television and online collegiate journalism. Entries are first judged on the regional level. Regional award winners will be honored at the spring conferences. First place regional winners are forwarded on to the national competition. National winners will be honored at the 2010 SPJ Convention & National Journalism Conference in Las Vegas.

The contest is open to anyone enrolled in a college or university in the U.S. studying for an academic degree in 2009. Students who have had full-time, professional journalism experience, outside of internships, are not eligible. Entries must have been published or broadcast during the 2009 calendar year.

Enter Online
For the first time, nominations for the Mark of Excellence Awards will take place through an online entry form. (Some exceptions apply; please review the rules below and category-specific criteria at this link.)

When you are ready to submit your entry, you may do so by following this link. If you would like more information about the online submission process, you will find a complete FAQ here.

About the Awards

Entries are first judged on the regional level. Regional winners will be honored at SPJ’s spring conferences, and the first-place winning entries will be forwarded to the national competition. National winners will be honored at the 2010 SPJ Convention & National Journalism Conference in Las Vegas.

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Eligibility

— The contest is open to anyone enrolled in a college or university in the U.S. studying for an academic degree in 2009. Students who have had full-time, professional journalism experience, outside of internships, are not eligible.
— All entries must have been published or broadcast in 2009.
— The entrant must have been enrolled as a student at the time of publication or broadcast.
— Work published or broadcast while working as a student intern is acceptable.
— Unpublished manuscripts, classroom exercises and unaired news broadcasts do not qualify. Any work found to be unpublished, unaired or a classroom exercise will be disqualified.
— A classroom exercise is defined as work assigned for a grade or fulfillment of a course requirement and is not eligible for an MOE Award unless it was also published outside of class in the campus/local newspaper, campus/ local broadcast stations or Web site.
— Advisers may enter for their students.

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General Rules

— Incomplete entries will be disqualified. Entrant will not be notified of such disqualification nor will their entry fee be refunded.
— Material submitted for the contest will not be returned. Winning entries may be reproduced or posted on the SPJ Web site for educational or other purposes.
— A cover letter explaining your entry is optional. Limit to one paragraph.
— Only select categories can be mailed in. Those entries must be postmarked by Jan. 27, 2010.
— Categories with a mail-in option: Best All-Around Daily Student Newspaper, Best All-Around Non-Daily Student Newspaper, Best Student Magazine (mail-in only), Radio In-Depth Reporting, Best All-Around Radio Newscast, Television In-Depth Reporting and Best All-Around Television Newscast. Be sure to check the box saying that you are mailing your entry in.

Entries in all other categories should be uploaded to the online awards site. If an entry is mailed to SPJ Headquarters and it is not for one of the categories listed above, it will be disqualified.

— All mailed entries should include a copy of the online award confirmation.
— Mark the date of publication or broadcast on all items submitted.
— Each contestant may enter as many categories as desired and may submit no more than two entries per category.
— Each entry must be accompanied by the correct entry fee. If payment is being sent separately by your school’s finance department, a letter must be included stating this and supplying the contact information for your finance department.
— Be sure the name of each student who worked on the entry is listed on the entry form and spelled correctly.
— Up to four individuals may be named on a team entry; otherwise, the entry must be submitted in the name of the newspaper, magazine, station or online news site.
— Work should be submitted in the region where the entrant was enrolled in school. See the SPJ Web site or entry form for regional boundaries.
— All entries must have been published or broadcast in English.

Mail entries to:
Mark of Excellence Awards
Society of Professional Journalists
3909 N. Meridian St.
Indianapolis, IN 46208

Mail-in option applies to select categories only.

— ACCURACY REQUIREMENT: Any corrections, clarifications or retractions made after initial publishing or broadcast should be submitted as part of the entry. Also, copies of any written challenges to the report’s accuracy sent to the entrant or the news organization by or on behalf of those mentioned — including but not limited to letters, e-mails or legal papers — must be included with the entry. Responses by the news organization also should be included.

Fees
Each submission by an SPJ member must be accompanied by a $9 entry fee and the entrant’s membership number. You may not use another student’s membership number to obtain the $9 member entry fee. Each submission by a nonmember must be accompanied by an $18 entry fee.

— When an entry by more than one person is submitted, a $9 fee will be acceptable if at least one person on the team is a member of SPJ. The member must be identified and supply their membership number. Your adviser’s membership number may not be used.
— Entries submitted in the Best All-Around categories must be accompanied by an entry fee — $9 if the editor(s) is (are) a member of SPJ, $18 if the editor(s) is (are) not a member. To claim the $9 rate, you must supply the editor’s name and membership number.
— Make checks and money orders payable to: Society of Professional Journalists. Entrants paying by check should include the award confirmation number in the memo line.
— No refunds will be issued.

Judging/Criteria
Judging will be based on overall excellence. Criteria include:
— Accuracy and completeness
— Enterprise and ingenuity
— Adherence to high journalistic standards
— Significance and effectiveness
— Extenuating circumstances
— Clarity, insight and respect for the audience.
— Creative use of the medium’s unique capabilities
— Adherence to the SPJ Code of Ethics
— Judges will weigh the resources available to the student when selecting the winners.
— Judging will take place first on the regional level, with judges for each region selecting regional winners in each category from among the entrants in that region. First, second and third place winner will be chosen unless the judges find that the entries do not meet the overall standard of excellence required. No ties or honorable mentions will be awarded. The winners in each region will be honored at their regional conference in the spring of 2010. The first-place winning entries from each region will go on to compete at the national level, with different panels of national judges selecting one national first-place winner in each category. These winners will be honored at the SPJ Convention & National Journalism Conference in the fall.

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Category-specific Rules
See a list of categories (opens in new window)

Print Entries (Newspaper and Magazine Categories)
— Entrants should submit a PDF of the news/magazine page on which the story appeared. Proof of the date of publication is required. Word documents and links to stories that appeared on the publication’s online news site will not be accepted in these categories.
— Limit a series to no more than five stories.

— Mail-in instructions for Best All-Around Daily Student Newspaper and Best Student Magazine categories only: Entrant MUST fill out entry form on the awards site, print out the confirmation form and include it with the submitted newspapers.

Art/Graphics Entries
— For photographs published in a newspaper, magazine or on an online news site.
— Entrant should submit a PDF of the news/magazine page on which the art appeared, or a link to the art published on an online news site. Proof of the date of publication is required.
—Submitting a separate digital photo is optional.

Radio Entries
— The original broadcast must not be altered.
— Work must have been aired by a campus, public or commercial radio station.
— Work aired on an online radio station or by Podcast is also eligible.
— All audio files must be .mp3 (preferred), .wav or .aiff format. Audio in other formats will not be accepted.
— Mail-in instructions for Radio In-Depth Reporting and Best All-Around Radio Newscast only: Entrant MUST fill out entry form on the awards site, print out the confirmation form and include it with the submitted CD-ROM. Label CD-ROM with the name of the entry, school, category and entrants. Submit CD-ROM in a protective case. Series or entries with multiple newscasts should be entered on one or two CD-ROMs.

Television Entries
— The original broadcast must not be altered.
— Work must have been broadcast by a campus, public or commercial television station or franchised cable television system.
— Work aired on an Internet TV station or by Podcast is also eligible.
— A script or transcript is welcome, but not required.
— All video files must be one of the following formats: .flv (preferred), .wmv, .avi, .mov, .mpeg or .mpg. OR upload the video to YouTube and provide a link to the URL.
— Mail-in instructions for Television In-Depth Reporting and Best All-Around Television Newscast categories only: Entrant MUST fill out entry form on the awards site, print out the confirmation form and include it with the submitted DVD. Label DVD with the name of the entry, school, category and entrants. Submit DVD in a protective case. Series or entries with multiple newscasts should be entered on one DVD. Videocassettes will not be accepted.

Online Entries
— Entries that do not provide complete and accurate URLs will be disqualified.
— Entrants must keep their nominated entries intact and accessible until October 8, 2010.
— Best Affiliated Web Site and Best Independent Online Student Publication categories will be judged based on current 2010 content during the month of judging, not work done during the 2009 calendar year like the rest of the Mark of Excellence categories.

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Questions?

Contact SPJ at 317/927-8000 or e-mail awards@spj.org.