Spring Media Monday 2018

Newspaper Contest Packet

Contest packet includes:

  • Critical service form
  • On Deadline entry directions
  • Previously published entry directions

** Please read packet thoroughly, as some directions have changed.

To register for Spring Media Monday, please visit our website and follow the link to the Eventbrite registration. If you have any questions, please send us an email at .

Contest descriptions

Criticial Service: A holistic evaluation of your publication. Judges consider a variety of criteria (available for you to view on our website under critical service scorebooks). Your overall score determines your rating at Spring Media Monday.

On Deadline: A journalism contest that puts students’ skills to the test under a quick deadline. Prompts are sent to adivers approximately one month before SMM. Entries are submitted through the OSM website, similar to monthly contest entries.

Previsouly Published: Monthly contest entries that received a distinction of Excellent or Superior in the August through February 2017-2018 contest period are eligible to enter. The compiled entries are then judged for the Spring Media Monday individual awards.

*Only currently paid OSM member schools can compete in critical service. There is no extra fee for this service, which is included in your membership.

Newspaper name: ______

School: ______

Adviser: ______

Dates of the three issues

you are submitting: ______

Frequency of Publication: ______

Please include the following with your Newspaper Critical Service entry:

- Three issues of your newspaper from Fall 2017 or Spring 2018. These don’t have to be in sequence.

- This completed form.

- A letter to the judges explaining any special circumstances- equipment, technology, staff, support, budget, etc.- that might have affected your newspaper’s production. Please also indicate in this letter any changes you made in response to last year’s comments from the judges on your scorebook and critical service document.

The judges will rate your publication as Merit, Distinguished Merit, Honors or Highest Honors. Those receiving ratings of Highest Honors will qualify for All-Oklahoman and James F. Paschal memorial Sweepstakes Award Competitions.

Critical Service Deadline

Competition for All-Oklahoma and James F. Paschal Memorial Sweepstakes:

Postmark by March 9, 2018

Mail entries to the address below:

OSM

395 W. Lindsey, Room 2545

Norman, OK 73019

Fees: Regular evaluation service (Includes scorebook and critique) ……… No charge.

Adviser’s signature and date: ______

For “On Deadline” categories listed below, OSM will send a prompt to media advisers by March 9. The prompts will be fairly general, but will have specific guidelines, so adviser and students should read the prompts carefully. The student work must be completed between March 9 – March 27, 2018 and may or may not be published in the school publication (though we encourage publishing and choose topics we hope would fit well with student publications). Each competitor must attend the conference and pay the regular delegate attendance fee as well as the contest entry fees to be eligible to compete.

HOW TO ENTER:

  1. This contest will be entered electronically through the FormStacks platform on the OSM Website (the same platform used to submit entries for monthly contests). By Friday, March 23, this contest will be open to start submissions. Click on the link labeled “On Deadline Contest 2018” to start submitting. OSM website:
  2. Students may enter as many categories as they please.
  3. Please refer to the “On Deadline” prompts (in your email and on the website no later than March 9) to see specific rules for how many students can enter on one entry (only one student, unless the category specifies otherwise). The prompts also tell you the topics for each category, which change year to year.
  4. The fee is $4.50 for the student’s first entry and $3.50 each for student’s subsequent entries. OSM will total your entries for you and bill you after the contest.
  5. Submit all entries no later than midnight March 27.

On Deadline Print Categories for 2018 include:

Writing Photography Design & Graphics

News storyNews PhotosMagazine Inside Page Design

Feature: Personality ProfileFeature PhotosMagazine Inside Spread Design

Feature (other than personality profile)Sports PhotosNewspaper Inside Page Design

Mini FeatureNewspaper Inside Spread Design

Sports ColumnNewspaper Front Page Design

Sports FeatureEditorial Cartoon

Sports News StoryInformation Graphic

Opinion ColumnOriginal Ad

Critical Review

Only students who have earned a rating of Superior or Excellent in a 2017-2018 monthly contest are qualified to compete in the 2018 OSM Annual State Newspaper Competition. The February contest with a due date of March 5th is the final qualifying contest for this academic year. Each competitor must attend the conference and pay the regular delegate fee as well as the contest entry fees.

HOW TO FILL OUT THE PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED FORM

  1. Please access the Excel document titled “Previously Published Entries Form” (in your email or on our website).
  2. Fill out according to the examples within the document.
  3. Students can enter as many categories and as many entries within categories as they wish.
  4. The fee is $4.50 for the student’s first entry and $3.50 each for student’s subsequent entries. OSM will total your entry cost and send you an invoice after Spring Media Monday.
  5. Please Email the Excel document by March 20, 2018. (Please note: we will have monthly contest results from February back to you no later than March 16 so they can be added to your previsously published entries.)
  6. You only have to send the Excel document, as we have the previous entries saved in FormStacks.