Y-30. Opening and Closing
The introductory and closing spreads. FOR THE ENTRY TITLE, use your theme. You may include a brief description of your theme in the Additional Information field. LIMIT ONE ENTRY PER SCHOOL. Submit up to 10 PDF or image files of opening and closing. Please note: Files uploaded to an entry in the contest system together cannot exceed 100 MB. If your files exceed this limit, you can submit them via URL to a shared location on a file service such as Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc. (Be sure to set shared files for public view.)
If any element of the entry was not produced by students (including images and/or page design templates) please indicate that clearly on the entry form in the “Non Student Work/Copyright” field. FOR SPREADS (a spread is two facing pages), if possible save your entry as a spread, creating a single horizontal page out of two vertical pages. Otherwise, the judges may not see both pages of your spread together and will not get the full impact of your design. Contiguous pages should be submitted in a single PDF file.
JUDGING CRITERIA
- Designs are fresh and contemporary, setting them apart from standard designs of the interior pages, but are similar to each other and continue the verbal/visual theme statement introduced on the cover.
- Photos, copy, captions, headlines and white space are arranged to help reader begin and end story of year
- Designs carry elements of theme concept
- While designs may be innovative, they adhere to journalistic guidelines and show evidence of careful planning
- Copy has engaging angle, solid lead and, if included, meaningful student quotes that enrich story and reflect effective interviewing
- Copy should provide examples of events, circumstances specific to this school, this school year
- Captions begin with strong lead and contain at least two sentences that answer all reader’s questions and clearly identifies all people
- Copy and captions show evidence of adequate research
- A clever, engaging headline draws reader into story and establishes visual/verbal connection between photos and copy
Adheres to rules of good journalism including:
- Use of active voice
- Freedom from editorial comment
- Careful editing and proofreading
- Correct use of grammar
- *For more details, see complete criteria for these categories: Feature Writing – Student Life, Headline Writing, Caption Writing and Student Life Spread.