Deadline to submit nominations: Friday, Feb. 19, 2016
Link not activated after Feb. 19: http://forms.cosida.com/fswcontest.aspx
The annual CoSIDA Fred Stabley, Sr. Writing Contest is open to all
current 2015-16 dues-paying members of CoSIDA. It recognizes excellence in feature writing, historical features, administrator/coach profiles and event coverage writing. Entries will be judged on overall writing style, correct use of English, inventiveness, written presentation and the ease with which the read acquires the information.
In our profession, we are called upon to use our writing skills each and every day and we create tremendous stories that captivate our audience. With that in mind, CoSIDA members are encouraged to submit entries for this year’s Writing Contest. The deadline for entries is
Friday, Feb. 19, 2016.
The CoSIDA Fred S. Stabley Sr. Writing Contest is open to all members of CoSIDA and is the only contest sponsored by CoSIDA that does not discriminate because of budget, athletic competition level, or size of staff. All entries are considered to be on a level playing field.
Seven Categories
1. Event Coverage
--An entry detailing the happenings of a sporting event (game, match, tournament).
2. General Feature
--An entry detailing a group’s achievement or a non-sporting event.
3. Coach/Administrator Profile & Historical Feature
--An entry detailing the story of a coach or administrator or recalling a historical event.
4. Athlete Profile
--An entry detailing the story of a student-athlete.
5. Blog
--An entry that is produced with personal opinions, activities, and experiences.
6. Season Preview/Recap
--An entry previewing or recapping a sports team’s season.
7. Story With Video (cannot be from outside of office, send script if one available)
--An entry that is accompanied by an internally-produced video. Video should help tell the story, but not be the main part of the entry.
Remember that only ONE (1) entry will be allowed per category per author.
Entries
- All dues-paying members of CoSIDA are encouraged to enter the contest. Non-members of CoSIDA who work in a sports information/media relations capacity (graduate assistants, interns, student assistants and volunteers) are invited to submit stories as long as each entry is sponsored by a dues-paying member of that office
- Entries must come from a campus publicity office, a conference office, or a sports governing body that deals directly with college athletics. The stories must have been generated through the normal daily role of the office.
- Entries must be sent in no later than February 19, 2016 (again, members may submit only ONE entry per category per author). Entries must have been written/published between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2015.
- Online submissions are available at http://forms.cosida.com/fswcontest.aspx
- 5. Entries must be in prose form. No game notes, fact sheets, etc., may be submitted.
Judging
All entries will be forwarded to a district representative, who will gather a panel of three judges. The stories will be judged by category only, with the top story in each category at the district level being forwarded to a national panel of judges.
Judging will be based equally on the following criteria:
--Flow/Organization
--Grammar/Punctuation
--Interesting/Original
--Focus/Clarity of Subject
--Video/Story Correlation (Video Category Only)
District coordinators reserve the right to re-classify an entry if it is not submitted for the proper category.
Awards
District judging will begin immediately after the submission deadline and will end in early April. National judging will then commence and is expected to conclude in mid May. The district and national winners are slated to be
announced the first Monday of June (June 6, 2016).
Winners at the district level will be emailed a PDF certificate, while national winners will be mailed a plaque.
District Alignments
District 1 (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec)
District 2 (Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia)
District 3 (Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia)
District 4 (Alabama, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee)
District 5 (Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Manitoba, and Ontario)
District 6 (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas)
District 7 (Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Alberta, and Saskatchewan)
District 8 (Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, British Columbia, and Yukon)
Questions?
Contact:
Wade Steinlage, Contest Chair
William Penn University
(641) 673-1025
steinlagew@wmpenn.edu
or
Tim Brennan, Vice Chair
Salisbury University
(401) 543-6016
tmbrennan@salisbury.edu
or
Ira Thor, CoSIDA Board & Writing Contest Liaison
New Jersey City University
(201) 200-3301
ithor@njcu.edu