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Jack Webster Awards Call for Submissions
- Enter your submission online - here
- Eligibility
- Jack Webster Awards Categories Information
- Judging Guidelines
- Frequently Asked Questions
- STEPS TO ENTER
ELIGIBILITY
BC-based journalists reporting for BC news organizations on stories for BC audiences are eligible to enter the 2013 Jack Webster Awards.
Entries published or aired between June 1, 2012 and May 31, 2013 are eligible. Entries may be submitted by a journalist or team of journalists working in print, radio, TV, and online media.
There are no restrictions as to the number of stories that may be submitted. Please note that a story or series may be entered in only one category. An online submission form is required for each submission. Please complete at jackwebster.com/submitnow.
Category descriptions and FAQ's are found at below.
| Best News Reporting 3 awards |
Print: Acknowledges outstanding hard news reporting by a journalist or a team of journalists.
Television: Acknowledges outstanding hard news reporting by a journalist or a team of journalists. Presented in memory of Keith Bradbury more Radio: Acknowledges outstanding hard news reporting by a journalist or a team of journalists. |
| Best Feature Story 3 awards |
Print: For publications with 50,000 and over circulation: acknowledge exemplary skill by a journalist or a team of journalists in presenting non-news stories.
Television: Acknowledge exemplary skill by a journalist or a team of journalists in presenting non-news stories. Radio: Acknowledge exemplary skill by a journalist or a team of journalists in presenting non-news stories. |
| Jack Webster Award for Excellence in Digital Journalism | This award recognizes outstanding BC-based journalism that maximises the creative use of digital tools and platforms - text, videos, audio, slideshows, interactivity, data and social media etc - to tell a story of interest to British Columbians. |
| Jack Webster Business, Industry & Economics Award | Recognizes a journalist or a team of journalists for outstanding and lucid reporting about these complex issues that affect our daily lives. Endowed by Jean Cormier more |
| Best Reporting - Chinese Language | Recognizes a journalist or a team of journalists who produces outstanding journalism in BC Chinese Language media. |
| Jack Webster Award for Community Reporting | For broadcast journalists from small market broadcast organizations and print journalists from publications with less than 50,000 circulation whose work demonstrates extraordinary enterprise, talent or courage in bringing vital information to their community. |
| Jack Webster Award for Excellence in Legal Journalism | Honours a journalist or a team of journalists for a story about legal issues, the administration of justice or the legal profession in British Columbia. Sponsored by the Law Society of British Columbia more |
| Jack Webster Award for Science, Technology, Health & Environment | Recognizes a journalist or a team of journalists for best reporting on the impact of science discovery, technological innovation and health and environmental issues. |
 Commentator of the Year |
If you do regular commentary in print or broadcast media, enter this category to be judged BC's Commentator of the Year. Receive the City Mike Award named after Jack Webster's groundbreaking CJOR radio program which established Webster as one of BC's pre-eminent commentators. Enter up to five examples of your commentary for consider as Commentator of the Year. Presented in memory of Linda Webster more |
| Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award | This award is chosen by the Trustees of the Foundation and recognizes an individual for a lifetime of contribution to the field of journalism in British Columbia. |
JUDGING GUIDELINES
The Jury Panel, composed of current and former journalists, as well as members of the community, is completely independent from the Trustees of the Foundation. The jury panel will base their decisions on the following Guidelines:
Guidelines for hard news submissions:
- Balance: Was the entry fair to all those in it?
- Clarity: Was the complex made understandable?
- Conflict: Were the elements of conflict clearly explained in neutral terms?
- Enterprise: What degrees of research, resourcefulness and persistence were exhibited in this story?
- Impact and Relevance: What was the impact on or relevance to the community? What degree of change flowed from the telling of this story?
- Originality: Did the entry break substantively new ground?
- Timeliness: Was this story relevant today?
Guidelines for feature submissions:
- Choice: What creativity did the journalist show is selecting a story to tell?
- Context: What did the story tell us about how we live now?
- Craft: How did the journalist exploit the unique narrative demand of the medium to tell the story.
- Enterprise: What degrees of research, resourcefulness and persistence were exhibited in this story?
- Originality: Has the ordinary been made new, or the extraordinary understandable?
- Style: How creatively did the journalist use narrative technique to enhance our understanding?
Guidelines for the Digital Award:
- Choice: Why was this story chosen to tell in digital media? What makes the story submission uniquely suited to digital journalism?
- Craft: What creative use of digital tools, services and platforms, design and navigation, singly or in combination, was used to enhance the audience's understanding of the story? How did the story make best use of the characteristics of digital journalism to tell the story?
- Enterprise: How did innovation, timeliness and resourcefulness contribute to telling the story?
- Originality: How did the storytelling demonstrate the creative use of the medium and platform to effectively serve its audience and achieve the highest journalistic standards?
- Impact: What quantitative and qualitative measurements were done to gauge the impact of the story? How was the audience able to participate or engage with this story? How social tools are used to reach out to and include the audience in the work?
Guidelines for the City Mike Award:
- Judges will base their decision on the significance of the topics, the effectiveness of the commentary on the issue and the quality of the work including clarity, originality, depth of thought and style.
STEPS TO ENTER
For 2013, we have an online entry system. We trust it will work seamlessly for you. You will complete an online application form with your contact information. You will receive an email shortly after with a link to allow you to upload your submission. If you have technical problems with uploading your submission, you can request assistance by clicking the Help Button on the submission page. You can also contact the Jack Webster Foundation (604-261-6184 or info@jackwebster.com) for help and a solution will be found to ensure that your submission is entered into the 2013 Jack Webster Awards.
You will be asked to submit the following:
- Synopsis for all entries:
- A pdf, word or text document providing a brief synopsis (about 200 words) about the submission, explaining the story's background, significance, impact and any other information you consider pertinent.
- For newspaper or magazine printed entries:
- a pdf of the page(s) layout of your submission; if the pdf is not readable, please attach a pdf, word or text document of the text of your published story
- For radio entries:
- an MP3 audio file no greater than 2GB in size
- maximum size: one hour, you may provide four fifteen minute excerpts or two thirty minute excerpts.
- For TV entries:
- a video in he following formats: .avi, .flv, .m4v, .mov, .mp4, .mpeg, .mpg, no greater than 4GB in size
- maximum size: one hour, you may provide four fifteen minute excerpts or two thirty minute excerpts.
- For multimedia entries:
- provide url
- For online text submissions:
- a screen grab as your story was displayed or provide a url; if the screen grab is not readable, please attach a pdf, word or text document of the text of your published story
- For entries to the commentator category:
- up to five examples of work either on a single topic or on several topics
Please note
- You may enter more than one submission but each submission may be entered in only one category.
- There is no submission fee.
- Finalists are announced in September and are invited as special guests to the Jack Webster Dinner on October 30, 2013 in Vancouver.
- Winners will be announced at the Jack Webster Dinner on Thursday, October 30 and each winning submission will receive one Webster statue.
- Submissions may be used as part of the presentations at the Jack Webster Dinner and will not be returned.
For more information, please contact The Jack Webster Foundation.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q. If I reported on a story in May, 2013 and it continued with more reports in June, 2013, may I enter all the stories, given that the entry period is June 1, 2012 to May 31, 2013?
A. Yes, if your story begin in May and continues into June, then it should be entered for the 2013 Webster Awards.
Q. I am a broadcast journalist and wish to enter. Is there a time limit for broadcast entries or should I edit the original piece?
A. Broadcast entries should be no more than 60 minutes. You may wish to provide four fifteen minute excerpts or two thirty minute excerpts. A broadcast entry may not be edited, except for the provision of excerpts as noted previously.
Q. Is there a fee for entering?
A. No, there is no fee for entering.
Q. May I enter a series of articles on a subject as one entry?
A. Yes.
Q. If my news organization has more than one media, can a submission be entered in more than one category, for example, in a TV and in a radio category?
A. No. A submission may be entered in only one category. You will have to select which category to enter.
Q. The majority of our team of journalists is BC-based but one member is a non BC journalist, actually working for our Toronto organization, may we submit?
A. No, all members of your team must be BC-based.
Q. If I am a BC-based journalist working for a national network, is my work eligible?
A. Yes.
Q. Is there a maximum number of stories I can enter in a category?
A. No, there is no maximum number of stories you can enter in a category.
Q. Will I have to complete a submission form for each entry?
A. Yes, you must complete the online submission process for each submission.
Q. If it is not possible to upload my submissions electronically as requested, do I have any options?
A. Yes, please contact the Jack Webster Foundation office for help and a solution will be found to ensure that your submission may be entered into the 2013 Jack Webster Awards.
Q. I write for a BC online news site, into what categories am I eligible to enter?
A. You may submit your text story into the print categories or into specific categories such as science, legal reporting, etc.
