The clock is ticking. It’s now 50 days left to submit your work to the AIPS Sport Media Awards 2020 edition, and we choose to dedicate 50 things you should know to participate in the most respected international award for sports journalists.
BASICS In just two years, the AIPS Sport Media Awards became the highest accolade in the sport media industry, unparalleled both in terms of global impact and equality of opportunities. The AIPS Sport Media Awards offer recognition to the best storytellers across all media platforms, from photography to video, from print to digital.
1) Dedicated to all media professionals, whether directly employed or freelancers, participating in the Awards is completely free and each individual has two submissions available.
2) The participation period remains as announced, therefore, all works published between October 8, 2019, and October 7, 2020, will be valid. The deadline for submitting is October 7, 18:00 Central European Time.
3) Each of the winners will receive 8,000 Dollars (1st placed), 3,000 dollars (2nd placed) or 2,000 dollars (3rd placed). The Young Reporters’ winners will earn a scholarship at a top international sporting event.
4) There are no restrictions for languages. All languages are accepted in the submissions.
5) All works must be submitted directly using our website, www.aipsawards.com, the only valid platform for accepting submissions.
CATEGORIES Senior categories are divided between Writing, Photography, Audio, Video. There’s also an optional category for young journalists: Young Reporter Under 30.
6) Writing has two subcategories: Best Column and Best Colour Piece.
7) Photography has two subcategories: Action Picture and Portfolio
8) Video has three possibilities: Short Feature Video (shorter than 10 minutes), Athlete Profile (longer than 10 minutes) and Documentary (longer than 10 minutes)
9) Audio has a dedicated category featuring radio and podcasts.
10) There are two special categories not open for submissions: Investigative reporting and A life in sport.
PHOTOGRAPHY This category is reserved for professional photographers only.
11) Action Picture: An image that depicts a moment of excellence or athletic skill from a particular sporting event. One photo only.
12) Portfolio: A portfolio of at least three but no more than five sports photos. These photos may be from the same sport or same event, or they may be from different events and different sports.
13) A photograph may not be entered more than once i.e. a photo entered into the Action category cannot be entered into the Portfolio category and vice-versa.
14) Photographs may not be manipulated to block out distracting elements or to make significant changes in color and contrast. Only cropping or removing dust and scratches are allowed.
15) For more information, please check our Photography FAQs here. https://www.aipsawards.com/
WRITING Dedicated to the best sport storytellers from across the world, with two possibilities representing the main aspects of the profession.
16) Best Column: An article that shows a knowledgeable opinion and that demonstrates research, relevance, authority and an original view on a topic.
17) Best Colour Piece: An article that captures the emotion of an occasion in and around the sporting world, and that shows preparation, creativity, outstanding reporting and a flair for storytelling.
18) There is no word limit for submissions as long as they are articles. Books, book chapters and excerpts are not accepted.
19) Proof of publication for online articles could be a link with the date visible. For print articles, a PDF of the newspaper/magazine is required, or a link with the article, if it was also published online, with the date visible.
20) For more information on Writing, please check our Writing FAQs here. https://www.aipsawards.com/
VIDEO From clips crafted for TV and social media environments to sports films, all producers, directors, anchors and reporters can choose the category that suits them best.
21) Short Feature: A video shorter than 10 minutes in length on any sporting subject with strong storytelling, innovative filming and journalistic relevance.
22) Athlete profile: A video longer than 10 minutes that portrays a captivating, in-depth image of an athlete or a prominent and relevant sport figure
23) Documentary: A video longer than 10 minutes that tells a compelling and revealing story about any aspect of the sport world, showing qualitative research and editorial input combined with quality filmmaking.
24) All videos should be uploaded into the platform of AIPS Sport Media Awards in a valid video format or a link. If videos can be found online, please provide a fully accessible link (ie. not behind a paywall) and provide a password if applicable.
25) For more information on this categories, please check our Writing FAQs here. https://www.aipsawards.com/
AUDIO
26) Audio category submissions can be either a radio report, podcast, piece of commentary or other audio submission that is not only compelling but also displays some technical innovation and quality research.
27) Team entries are accepted as long as participants are specified in the description.
28) In the event of qualifying for the final, a full transcript of the audio in its original language could be asked to the entrant.
29) If your podcast is split into episodies, you are kindly asked to choose one episode to represent the entire series. You can specify in the description how many episodes were presented and what the other topics were.
30) For all doubts about this category, you can check the dedicated Audio FAQ published here. https://www.aipsawards.com/
YOUNG REPORTERS UNDER 30 This category was created for the second edition of the Awards, showing an immediate positive repercussion among the younger generations.
31) The Young Reporter category is open to professionals that are under 30 (born on or after January 1, 1991).
32) If you opt to participate in the Young Reporters categories, you will be competing for a scholarship at a top international sporting event chosen by AIPS.
33) The three categories are Photography, Writing and Broadcasting (Audio & Video).
34) Only one file (one picture, one article or one video/audio) will be accepted per submission.
35) Out of the two submissions per person, only one can be used to compete in the Young Reporter category.
JUDGING AND JURY In order to win, all works are screened and then voted in three different stages.
36) The 24 AIPS Executive Committee members will screen all submissions and shortlist the best of them, that will qualify for the second phase.
37) A jury of 11 relevant members of the sport media industry, plus AIPS president Gianni Merlo as president of the jury, will select the three finalists for each category or subcategory, based on the shortlist produced by the voting of the AIPS Executive Committee members and their own suggestions. The day before, the jury will meet and vote the winners.
38) Jurors’ names and their career expertise in sport journalism are accessible here https://www.aipsawards.com/
39) The works that qualify for the next round will be announced towards the end of the year, as it happened in the first two editions, while the ceremony will take place at the beginning of 2021.
40) After the ceremony, AIPS also publishes the list of the most voted works per category by continent.
SUBMITTING PROCESS It is easy and it doesn’t take more than 10 minutes.
41) In order to submit your work journalists and photographers are required to sign up and create a profile at www.aipsawards.com, which is as easy as signing up for an email account. Simply choose ‘LOGIN’ and then ‘Create new account’.
42) Once logged in, you need to click “Add submission”. Select category and sub-category.
Put a title, description and upload link, pdf or file. Submit
43) You can create a second submission by repeating the procedure. Be aware that you need to repeat the process for a second submissions. We don’t accept two submissions in one form.
44) Please notice that you can make amendments of your submissions in the future, changing all fields except for ‘category’ and ‘sub-category’.
45) You can select if your work is in English and, if not, if you’ve submitted your English translation. If you haven’t, then the submission will be first screened by a native speaker of the AIPS panel of experts, plus the AIPS national associations, based on the original language.
PAST EDITIONS The celebration of sport media excellence happens every day, but the gala is a special, emotional night every year, with live broadcast via TV and Facebook Live.
46) In the first edition of the Awards, there were participants from 119 countries. The first gala ceremony took place in Lausanne, in January 2019. IOC president Thomas Bach delivered the opening speech of the Awards ceremony.
47) The second edition took place in Budapest in February 2020. FIFA president Gianni Infantino was the special guest as winners were unveiled. In total, 1746 from 120 countries were received.
48) AIPS, the body that represents international sports media across all continents with more than 9,500 members worldwide, organises the AIPS Sport Media Awards in partnership with QSPC, the Qatar Sports Press Committee, as part of a shared drive to invest in culture and sport journalism, and purposefully protect and safeguard the integrity of the profession.
49) You can check the previous winners of the two editions here. 2018 Edition, Lausanne ceremony: https://www.aipsawards.com/
50) 50 days to submit, don’t miss out! You can add your name to the podium of Sport Media Excellence.
If you have any questions about how to submit, please write to us in our social media channels or by email at info@aipsawards.com
