The year might be drawing to a close but with it comes something special: the chance to prove your salt to your colleagues across the country. Big and small, far and wide, there’s a category for everyone in the 2006 Better Newspapers Competition (BNC) and the Canadian Community Newspapers Association (CCNA) is pleased to announce details for this year’s competition which officially kicks off on December 1, 2005.
CCNA members have until January 31, 2006 to submit their entries for consideration and finalists will be announced on Friday, April 14, 2006, at 9:00 AM eastern time at www.communitynews.ca/bncawards/2006/. Winners will then be announced at the 87th CCNA National Convention in Quebec City, on May 27, 2006. Visit www.communitynews.ca/convention/2006/ for more information on the convention as it becomes available.
CHANGES
The new year does bring a few changes to this year’s competition, namely in the form of updates to the scoring and rules for three categories. The biggest of these change is for the General Excellence category which has been updated to once again include a scoring system, as well as individual comments.
The BNC Committee has also updated the following rules:
-Best News Story – Entrants should submit a single story. As before, an explanatory letter may also be attached to provide background information.
-Best Photo Essay – To better reflect the necessary element of storytelling, scoring for each entry will now include 20 points for Photographic Narrative.
Additionally, the CCNA Board of Directors has determined that the 2006 BNC should include a category of awards specific to campus newspapers to help promote the community newspaper industry to budding journalists. These awards will run parallel to the BNC and also be presented at this year’s convention. More details will be released on the CCNA website in the coming days.
RETURNING CATEGORIES
Finally the CCNA is happy to report that last year’s three new categories were huge successes, including Agricore United’s Best Agricultural Story, Best Headline Writing, and Best Website Design. Best Agricultural Story also comes with cash prizes of $1000 for first place, $500 for second place, and $250 for third place, which is just another great reason to enter.
TIMELINE
December 1 – Contest opens, forms available
January 31 – Contest closes, entries due at CCNA Office
April 14 – Finalists Announced
May 27 – Awards Presented
For more information on the 2006 Better Newspapers Competition, visit the CCNA website at www.communitynews.ca or contact Member Services Coordinator Andrew Powell at 1-877-305-2262, extension 29, or by e-mail at apowell@ccna.ca.