Entries should show how stations used audio and strong production techniques to enhance spot news or feature stories.

TALK SHOW (radio only)

Entries should be regularly-scheduled, news-oriented talk show programs that include a listener call-in component. Stations may enter an excerpt from a single show or a composite of several shows.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Entries should demonstrate a station’s commitment to serving the local community through public affairs or educational programming. Examples could include regularly-scheduled public affairs programs, a public service campaign, or editorials.

WEATHER PRESENTATION (TV only)

Entries should demonstrate a station’s commitment to weather reporting, including regularly-scheduled weathercasts, severe weather coverage and other programming.

WEB SITE

Entering stations must have a Web site that, as a principle function, disseminates timely news and information to the public. The site must include locally-generated news content.

NEWS STATION OF THE YEAR

This is a single composite entry that should demonstrate a station’s overall news commitment and service to its coverage area. Entries in this category must include the following elements: One example of spot news coverage; one example of enterprise or investigative reporting; one example of a feature story; and a portion of a regularly-scheduled newscast. Stations may also include other elements, with the total entry not exceeding 40 minutes in length. Stations may not add narration, music or other production elements that were not a part of the original material.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMITTING ENTRIES

Important: BetterBNC is optimized for Firefox for PC and Macintosh. Please have a recent version downloaded and installed for the best contest experience.

1.Login

a. Go to www.betterbnc.com.

b. Click contestant login (upper left) or the appropriate Contestant Login button on the right side of the page.

c. Select the appropriate contestant type:

i. If you are the single point of contact for your organization, select Contestant Manager. NOTE: Once you have submitted 2 entries, you will receive an email validating your Contestant Manager account, enabling you to create Authorized Entrant accounts to make entries on behalf of your organization.

ii. If you have received an email authorizing you to submit entries for your organization, select Authorized Entrant.

iii. If you are an individual submitting your own entries, select Open Call, and then enter your email and password. If you haven’t yet created an Open Call account, follow the on-screen instructions.

d. Contestant Manager and Authorized Entrant only:

i. Select the appropriate Contest.

ii. Select the appropriate News Organization.

iii. (Authorized Entrant only) Enter your email address.

iv. Enter your temporary Password: bnc (lower case), and click Login. When you first login, the system will prompt you to create a secure password and enter your contact information.

2.Submit Entries

a. On the Manage Entries page, click Submit Entry (left side).

b. Select the appropriate Division (grouping of categories).

c. Select the appropriate Category.

d. (If applicable) Read the corresponding Category Note (directly below the Category selection box), describing the category’s requirements.

e. Complete the Headline/Title field.

f. Add entry content (may vary by category):

i. To upload digital file attachments (other than audio/video), click Browse, navigate to the desired file, and select Open. Allowed file types are PDF, DOC, TXT, JPG, GIF, and PNG. If more than one attachment is desired for this entry, click Attach More and repeat these steps. If you reach a point where you cannot add any more attachments to an entry, you may have reached the attachments limit, set by your contest administrator. Please try to keep file sizes under 5mb, to aid judges in accessing entry content. For larger files (between 5-50mb), you may upload your file(s) to a 3rd-party website such as www.issuu.com, and copy and paste the hosted item’s web address into the Website URL field.