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APSE contest rules?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Wonderlic, Sep 25, 2007.

  1. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Maybe it would fit under explanatory or project reporting, though.
     
  2. Which is b.s.
     
  3. Jim Jenks

    Jim Jenks Member

    I believe that explanatory is one story and one day also, but can include sidebars that are not mandatory reading for the judges.

    It would qualify under project.
     
  4. Jim - Don't you think that's an antiquated way of defining things? What if, for example, the Pulitzer committee limited feature winners to one-day stories?
     
  5. Wonderlic

    Wonderlic Member

    That REALLY sucks. I wrote it as a single story and it was broken in half by the desk, strictly over space concerns.

    The second half doesn't have a nut graph or anything that would lead anyone to believe it was actually a separate story. It's a Part 2 - and it was never intended to be.

    So between the daily space crunch and a technicality in the judging rules, the story will get screwed out of a chance to compete!?! That's terrible. :mad: :eek: :'(

    Maybe someone can look into changing these rules to allow stories that were broken up but are clearly single stories. We would compete in the sub-40,000 category, and I'm sure we're not the only paper our size that has to deal with space issues and the inability to run such a large story in only one edition.
     
  6. Wonderlic - I am in the same exact situation. Narrative single-subject feature. Two days. Home run if I do say so. And ineligible for anything. Utterly antiquated.
     
  7. SixToe

    SixToe Well-Known Member

    Lobby your Regional Chair for consideration to change the rule.

    A legitimate reason such as yours should not be grounds for exclusion.
     
  8. Jim Jenks

    Jim Jenks Member

    I think there are a few things that should be examined in the contest -- in the writing and section categories. I know that Lynn Hoppes, the contest chair this year, is looking at some changes, but I am not sure anything gets done for 2007 version.
     
  9. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Just turn in day one and cross your fingers.
     
  10. Wonderlic

    Wonderlic Member

    There's still three months left in the year ... surely there's enough time to cut through whatever red tape there might be to allow stories of this nature to compete.

    I don't believe my story is strong enough to stand up in the project reporting category ... because that's not how it was written. But it's a damn fine feature, and there would be no issues if it weren't for a simple decision made by the desk, one that hardly affects the story at all, save for the reintroduction of a few characters by their whole names in the second part.

    Space crunch is an issue we all have to deal with more and more each year. Aren't these awards meant to honor great newspaper writing? Shouldn't the rules be set up to consider how a story was written rather than how many editions of the paper it ran over? Isn't there clearly a difference between a single feature story by a single writer that was broken in half by the desk and run on back-to-back days and project reporting, where any number of writers can pen any number of stand-alone articles that fit the same theme?

    Maybe Mr. Jenks, as a former APSE president, wouldn't mind pushing the issue a little bit, or at least looking into modifying this technicality. I'd like to think that we have enough time left before the contest to do whatever needs to be done, whether it be a vote or what, to allow journalists' best work to compete in an appropriate category.[/GettingDownOffSoapbox]
     
  11. Wonderlic

    Wonderlic Member

    That's just not going to cut it.
     
  12. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    I'd feel for you, really, but my favorite story I wrote rather then being held or serialized was simply whacked in half because of a space crunch busy day.

    I'm not talking 60 inches to 30, either.

    I'm talking 32 to 16 inches.

    Normally, you don't get feedback on your stories, but the next day it was always: "Liked the story. Why was it so short?"
     
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