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I’ve been the recipient, as have my Poynter colleagues, of some careless communications. It usually starts like this: Dear Nieman Lab … or Hello CJR!
😑
We still read those emails, but getting our organization wrong isn’t a great start for a detail-oriented profession. Those details also matter when it’s time to submit your work for journalism awards.
Last week, I wrote about a reporter who is working to help more local journalists enter awards ([link removed]) . One of the people who offered to help her is retired NPR reporter and correspondent Howard Berkes. Berkes has done a lot of winning in his career, and he’s also served as a journalism contest judge.
So when I asked him for tips on submitting work for contests, he had a whole list, including avoiding careless mistakes
“I see a lot of mistakes in awards entries that in some cases have disqualified the entry, which would have been an otherwise worthy story.”
Here are seven of his tips:
* Provide the required information, like a cover letter.
* In your cover letter or summary, get the name of the award and organization itself right. This isn’t disqualifying, Berkes said, but shows a lack of interest or care.
* Provide audio links or files for audio categories (for heaven’s sake!).
* Submit your work in the right category. For instance, don’t submit an investigation into an audio category if the bulk of the investigation is not in audio form.
* Follow the requirements. “Giving the awards contest folks what they want from you is key.”
* Take a role in the submission process. Volunteer to help, write the cover letter, get the material together, Berkes said. “Do whatever can to assist and make sure it’s done right. … You know the story, you know the impact, you know why you did it. Why hand that off to somebody else?”
* And finally, just enter. You definitely won’t stand a chance otherwise.


Sponsored post
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Apply for the Michael Kelly Award. First Prize: $25,000.
The Michael Kelly Award honors a writer or editor whose work exemplifies a quality that animated Michael Kelly’s own career: the fearless pursuit and expression of truth. The award is sponsored by The Atlantic, where Michael Kelly worked from 1997 until his death in 2003. Entries are encouraged from publications big and small, as well as from young journalists. The winning entry will be awarded $25,000, and each finalist will receive $3,000. Deadline for entries: March 29. Apply here. ([link removed])

Press Forward update: CatchLight, a visual media organization, got $7.5 million for the expansion of the CatchLight Local: Visual Journalism Initiative, according to a press release. "This three-year investment will be directed toward the CatchLight Local Visual Desk, a visual journalism initiative offering services, tools and expertise that is designed to augment and enhance the efforts of local news organizations to produce locally relevant and representative visual news and content." You can read more here. ([link removed])
That’s it for me! Thanks for reading,

Kristen
Kristen Hare
Faculty
The Poynter Institute
@kristenhare ([link removed])
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