Annual yearbook contests, critiques and recognition opportunities

A couple things as you await your books and things begin to wind down:

If you want to get a critique from either of the national associations, send your books before you leave for the summer if possible. Both NSPA and CSPA have more people who can judge during the summer months and that increases the chance that the staffs can use the feedback from their critique to help improve next year’s book. If you submit in May or June, it is MUCH MORE LIKELY that you will have critiques in hand when school starts back up. Those who wait until September or October to submit may not have their results back until after the first of the year.

CSPA provides critiques for its full members; schools who pay by June 15 pay $199 and those who submit afterwards pay $259. If a staff wants to be a member and enter the contests but not receive a critique, the fee is $149 per publication per year. CSPA contests include the Crown competition (submit two books now; or the actual deadline is October 15, 2010) and the Gold Circles. The Crown competition results in a list of finalists (usually in December); the Gold (Top 2%) and Silver (next 3%) Crowns are named at the spring CSPA and CMA conventions in March. If a school is a Crown finalist, they will be either a Silver or a Gold Crown winner. The Crown judging is holistic in approach and there is no feedback provided to the schools (that’s what the critiques are for). The Circle awards are also presented in conjunction with the March conventions. There are 66 different yearbook categories and each member publication gets 50 entries at no charge. The Circle awards provide an opportunity for individual recognition. The judges place the top three entries in each category and often honor additional students with certificates of merit. Circle entries must be prepared according to specific instructions and submitted by November 1, 2010; the forms are attached and are also available with instructions online at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cspa. Prices and deadlines are the same for middle school, high school, college and university yearbooks.

NSPA has separate pricing for middle school and high school publications. Level One memberships are $59 for middle school and $109 for high school publications and DO NOT include critiques. Level Two memberships (the ones with a critique) are $99 for middle schools and $189 for high schools. College yearbook staffs would join Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) instead; their tiered membership structure is based on undergraduate enrollment and they do critiques on request at the university level. Information is available at http://www.studentpress.org. The Pacemaker competition is similar to the Crowns in many ways. It is a whole-publication competition that does not provide feedback; the deadline will be in January 2011 for 2010 books. A list of Pacemaker finalists will be released (usually in February) prior to the spring convention and winners will be announced at the 2011 Spring National High School Journalism Convention in Anaheim in April. College Pacemakers are presented in the fall at the National College Media Convention (in Louisville in November this year for the 2009 yearbooks announced as finalists last month). Forms to enter the Pacemaker competition are sent to all member schools and available at the website beginning in November. If you submit a critique book, they will retain it in their offices and use that book for the competition if possible. They are pretty good about letting you know if they need a book to complete your entry. NSPA’s individual competitions are judged over the summer and awards are presented at the Fall National High School Journalism Convention (in Kansas City in November). The forms for the Design of the Year, Picture of the Year and Story of the Year contests are not posted yet; I will attach them when I resend this memo in May. The deadline is June 15 (not a postmarked deadline) and the contests are free to all NSPA member publications; each publication can submit one entry per category. The college contests are very similar. Individual awards will be presented in Louisville in November, entries are due June 7, 2010 (also not a postmarked deadline) and the contests are free to all ACP member publications; each publication can submit one entry per category.

Another venue for staff recognition is the Quill and Scroll Society. This honorary for high school journalists offers a number of opportunities for recognition. A charter for membership at a school costs $50 and is good for all publications forever. The form is available at http://www.uiowa.edu/~quill-sc/. If your schools are not sure whether they have a charter or not, the folks at Quill and Scroll will be glad to check for them. Membership requirements specify that individual student nominees be junior or senior class journalists who are in the top third of their class academically and working on official school publications. The adviser must recommend each potential member. If they do things traditionally, there’s a spring induction ceremony with candles and speeches… Some people sponsor chapters for the benefit of listing involvement on scholarship and admission applications, for access to the annual Yearbook Excellence contests or because they love that their students qualify for honor cords for graduation. The contest deadline is November 1 and the form online has not been updated yet.