"Working Hard To Improve News Design Through Education"
SND Competition Recognizes Best Design
IT TAKES CHIPS, CUPS & LOTS OF TABLES!
LIVE COVERAGE BY SND
Return to this site beginning Feb. 6, 2010, for competition slide shows.
For complete coverage visit WWW.SND.ORG beginning Feb. 6..
The competition Call for Entries in several languages will be posted on SND's Web site.
NEWHOUSE SCHOOL BUILDING ONE
Judges & Facilitators Stay at Sheraton SU
JUDGES AND FACILITATORS will stay at the Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel & Conference Center while they are guests of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and SU. This is not the usual on-campus hotel as evidenced in the vidio to the right. The hotel is across the street from the Newhouse School complex that consists of three buildings.
The World's Best judging will take place at the Sheraton, while categories 2 through 19 will be judged at Drumlins, the University's golf, tennis and pool complex.
Both judgings are closed to the public but we will have Internet coverage beginning with the first day of each judging. This coverage will include live streaming video from the judging sites along with news. We will announce live the winners of the World's Best-Designed Newspapers™ on the last day of that judging. The Judging Director will make hotel reservations for judges and facilitators.
Hundrads of Hours Are Spent Getting Entries Ready
THOUSANDS of entries arrive each year. That's why it's not possible to find a specific entry before the judging.
THOUSANDS OF ENTRIES must be prepared before they reach the judging site and the judges. It's during this time that every entry is audited. A team of auditors makes sure the entry count is correct and the entry is following the rules as outlined in the Call for Entries.
It's the audit staff that does everything possible to "save" an entry so it is not disqualified. Perhaps placing it in the correct category is all that's needed.
One year the staff actually soaked pages in water to remove them from the mounting board — entries are disqualified if they are mounted, according to the rules. Once the pages were unmounted they were dried very slowly then ironed so they were ready for the judges. All this was taking place while the staff was busy making sure the audit deadline was met.
"I'm not sure we'd try to unmount entries today," says Audit Director Shamus Walker from Syracuse University. "We receive so many entries that every minute has to be used to audit each entry," he says. "Then we go back to save as many entries as possible."
Very few entries are disqualified, Walker says, thanks to an audit system that does the job in five steps in two weeks. If it takes 24-hours a day to get the job done, that's what we do, he says.
The most difficult category to "save" an entry is Category 1 — the World's Best-Designed Newspapers™ category. "There is no way to save an entry that wasn't sent," Walker says. "Publications must send the required dates and the correct number of publications form the weeks indicated in the Call for Entries." Without the five newspapers with the correct dates the judges have no choice but to reject the entry, he says.
Some dates listed in the Call for Entries may be ignored if a publication was started after the required dates. In this case the person submitting the entry is required to explain the exception in a note attached with the entry. Again, read the rules in the Call for complete information.
IT'S NEVER TOO EARLY TO PLAN AHEAD
It's not too soon to be planning for the 29th Edition competition that will take place on the Syracuse University campus in February.
The entry deadlines are located in the Call for Entries as well as on this site. Remember these are the dates that the entries must be in Syracuse.
Publications continue to have extra time after the holiday season to prepare entries, Competition Director Marshall Matlock says. "It's going to be close for us to get the entries audited in the time allowed but it will get done."
Categories are expected to remain the same with minor changes. Non-newspaper magazine entries will now be accepted, according to Matlock.
The printed Call for Entries will be mailed in November to SND members and others. By late November the Call will be posted on the SND Web site in several langugages.
"Those who have been entering the competition for years know how important it is to keep pages in a safe place as they are produced each week," Matlock says. He suggests keeping them in a light-tight box laying them flat while stored. "The more pages the better," he says, "since it's easier to edit out pages that will not be entered than to try to find that 'special page' when you want to enter it."
The Call Will Answer Most Questions but . . .
SEND YOUR QUESTIONS BY CLICKING THE ABOVE BUTTON.
AFTER YOU'VE CAREFULLY read the competition Call for Entries -- that means every page -- your ready to enter the competition.
Hopefully the Call for Entries has answered your questions but if you still have questions go to the Q&A page by clicking the button at the left of this page.
The Q&A button at the top of this page will take you to a list of commonly asked questions. It's easy to navigate: Just click on the question and go directly to the answer. Or you may read every question with answer but normally that's not necessary.
IMPORTANT: With some browsers the link at the left may not work correctly to send an e-mail to the SND Competition Committee director. If that happens to you click HERE.
If all else fails you may e-mail the SND office snd@snd.org.
Good Luck!
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