This year’s Best of Show instructions and requirements can be downloaded to your computer here, or you will find them pasted below.

J-Day 2015 / Colorado Student Media Association

Best of Show Entry Directions

Questions or issues: [email protected] or 303-550-4755

IMPORTANT: All entries for Best of Show must be uploaded by 9:59 p.m. MDT, Monday, Oct. 5

 Newspaper/Newsmagazine Best of Show Criteria
Each news publication represented at J-Day 2015 may enter one front page plus four (4) additional pages from any one issue published thus far in the 2015-16 school year. These may be single pages or spreads. It is recommended that you open up the pages you are entering and SAVE AS to a contest folder. Please use the naming convention of [school name, newspaper name] for your entry PDF. You may upload the PDFs as one 5-page document (this is preferred), or as multiple documents (in which case you will need to add a number to the PDF name).

Yearbook Best of Show Criteria
Each yearbook represented at J-Day 2015 may enter three photographs plus captions planned for inclusion in your 2016 book. Once you have chosen the photos and captions, create a 3-page document and place one photo and one caption per page. It is recommended that you then export your document as a PDF, and SAVE AS to a contest folder. Please use the naming convention of [school name, yearbook name] for your entry PDF. Important: your entry should be a 3-page PDF.

Video Broadcast Best of Show Criteria
Each video/broadcast program represented at J-Day 2015 may enter one program broadcast thus far during the 2015-16 school year.  Your entry must be uploaded to SchoolTube, YouTube, Vimeo or some other hosting service, and you simply share the link to that program in your entry on our contest site. Please use the naming convention of [school name, broadcast program name] for your entry.

Online/Website Best of Show Criteria
Each website represented at J-Day 2015 may enter your site as a whole, which will be judged on Monday, Oct. 5.  Only material “live” on Oct. 5 will be considered by the judge. Simply paste the link to your site into our contest site. Please use the naming convention of [school name, broadcast program name] for your entry.

Stuff You Should Know

The J-Day Best of Show competition is completely online, with no paper or CD entries. We do encourage schools to bring papers and yearbooks to exchange at J-Day, however.

Best of Show is NOT a critique. The judges will simply holistically rank entries in each contest and category (print publications in enrollment categories, while broadcast and website include all enrollments). Judges will name first, second, third and honorable mention, depending on number of entries in a category. You will NOT receive comments, and certificates will be first announced and distributed at the end of the Closing Ceremony on Oct. 8, 2015 at J-Day. Each medium entered MUST be represented at J-Day to compete.

Examples from the winners will be posted soon after J-Day on www.colostudentmedia.com.

How to Upload Your Best of Show Entries

Step 1: Make sure you have properly exported your entry as a PDF (newspaper and yearbook) or created a working link (url) for broadcast and website. Be sure you have named your entry by school and media name.

CONTESTANTS
Entries to the Best of Show competition must be submitted using BetterBNC Media Awards Platform. IMPORTANT: Only schools with at least one student registered for J-Day may enter the Best of Show competition. Entries found to not represent schools at J-Day will be disqualified.

Below are directions for preparing and submitting entries. If you have questions, please contact Jack Kennedy at 303-550-4755 or [email protected].

IMPORTANT: BetterBNC is optimized for Chrome for PC and Macintosh/Apple. Please have a recent version downloaded and installed for the best contest experience.

The deadline for all entries is 9:59 p.m., Monday, Oct. 5.

1. 1. Go to betterbnc.com.
   2. Click contestant login (upper left) or the appropriate Contestant Login button on the right side of the page.
   3. Select the appropriate contestant type:
      1. If you are the single point of contact for your organization, select Contestant Manager. NOTE: Once you have submitted 2 entries, you will be receive an email validating your Contestant Manager account, enabling you to create Authorized Entrant accounts to make entries on behalf of your organization.
      2. If you have received an email authorizing you to submit entries for your organization, select Authorized Entrant.

Contestant Manager and Authorized Entrant only

1. Select the appropriate Contest (2015 CSMA J-Day Best of Show).
2. Select the appropriate News Organization (this is usually your school name plus your media type, all in one line). If you do not find your school plus media type listed in the drop down, contact Jack Kennedy immediately so this can be added.
3. 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.
4. Submit Entries
5. On the Manage Entries page, click Submit Entry (left side).
6. Select the appropriate Division (only one is Best of Show).
7. Select the appropriate Category (only one is 101 General Excellence).
8. Complete the Headline/Title field.
9. Add entry content (may vary by category):

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/DOCX, 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 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 3^rd-party website such as www.issuu.com, and copy and paste the hosted item’s web address into the Website URL field.

1. To add web/audio/video content, copy and paste the content’s web address into the provided Website URL field. To host your content online, either upload it to a free streaming content website (e.g. YouTube) or talk to your IT person about adding it to your station’s website. Make sure the content will be accessible online throughout the contest and awards process. Here are some examples of free streaming content websites where you can upload audio and video content:

Audio: www.kiwi6.com, www.tindeck.com

Video: www.youtube.com, www.vimeo.com

Confused at any step? Lost as to procedures? Contact Jack Kennedy at [email protected] or 303-550-4755.

Remember: no entries will be allowed after 9:59 p.m. MDT, Monday, Oct. 5. Entries can be made beginning Oct. 1. NO EXCEPTIONS.