In Feb. 2010, DigitalJournal.com’s “Cover Your Community” contest proved to be a big hit. The site saw a myriad of reports covering everything from a profile of an activist rallying against the Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police, to an on-the-street-report about the sex trade in Portland, Oregan, to photo stories of homeless people in Japan.
In total, DigitalJournal.com received 148 entries into the “Cover Your Community” contest and two people each won the top prize of $250 each; Sean O’Flynn-Magee won the Best Original Report prize for his expose on what he called “Hijab Politics in Iran” and Joseph Boltrukiewicz won Best Photo Essay for his coverage on the streets of Vancouver, Canada during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Congrats to both.
This month, DigitalJournal.com invites you to participate in its Project:Discover contest. The challenge: Report on issues from your community, or city, that people may not know about. If you are travelling, report about an issue from the location you’re visiting. We’re looking for under-reported issues, issues that are of great significance to the particular city or community, and issues that are of important news value.
One reporter will win a top prize of $250! This contest is open to any member of DigitalJournal.com.
Best Original Report or Photo Essay: $250 prize
DigitalJournal.com’s “Project:Discover” contest begins March 3, 2010 and runs through to midnight ET on March 31, 2010. The challenge: Report on a story from your community that is under-reported. This contest is open to any member of DigitalJournal.com. DigitalJournal.com is giving away one grand prize of $250 USD.
To be eligible to win, entrants must publish an original news article or blog (“Special Report”) on a topic within their community. It can be an investigative article, a profile of a business, a feature on an important local political issue or an interview with a community leader.
How to Enter:
Publish an article:
If you are already an approved Digital Journalist, you can click “Contribute> Post News” from the top of the page to enter. Simply mark your article as a “Special Report” in the “Extra Effort” section and you will be automatically entered. If you are not yet an approved Digital Journalist, create an account on the site and you can apply to become one by (clicking here). You may also publish your written entry as a blog post in this Group. You must be a member of DigitalJournal.com.
• The written entry must be at least 500 words, but no longer than 1,000 words.
• Interviews or on-the-ground reporting from the scene of a news event must occur between 12:01 AM (Eastern) on March 3, 2010 and 11:59 p.m. (Eastern) on March 31, 2010. Every submission must contain original reporting and interviews and must relate to a timely newsworthy subject affecting your community, no matter where you live. If you traveled to another community on vacation or on business for this contest, you may report on a community other than your own.
• You must provide contact information for all interview subjects (if you publish an article, use Digital Journal’s Special Report system to input your source(s) information.
• Short statements or only a few quotes from interview subjects will not qualify as an interview or original reporting. In the case of an interview, your interview material must form the basis of the article.
• It is optional to include original photography in the article, but judges may award more points to articles that contain original photography.
• Reporters can file as many original reports as they like throughout March. Only one entry will be selected as a winner, but there is no limit on the number of times you can enter.
Publish a blog:
If you publish a blog, contact us and provide the telephone number and email address to your source(s). Digital Journal Staff members will contact your interview subjects to verify quotes and facts. In the event you do not perform interviews but instead report first-hand from the scene of a news event, you must provide your own contact information so Digital Journal Staff can contact you to confirm facts and details.
• Short statements or only a few quotes from interview subjects will not qualify as an interview or original reporting. In the case of an interview, your interview material must form the basis of the article.
• It is optional to include original photography in your blog, but judges may award more points to blogs that contain original photography.
• Bloggers can file as many original reports as they like throughout March. Only one entry will be selected as a winner, but there is no limit on the number of times you can enter.
Publish a photo essay:
If you publish a photo essay, you must submit at least three or more photographs that tell a story. Photos should cover newsworthy subjects about your community or a community you visited. Photography can relate to any subject, such as a crime, an environmental wonder, sports or business. It may be a series of breaking news photos taken from your cellphone at the scene of an event, or it may be a pre-planned photo shoot.
Each entry of photos must be completed by adding or embedding them into an article or blog. To submit a photo as a Digital Journalist, click “Contribute > Post News” from the top of the page to enter. Check off the “extra effort” boxes to indicate your article is a Special Report and write an appropriate news headline (i.e. “After the earthquakes struck Chile,” or “Protests inside Germany’s smallest village”) and embed your photos into the story and you will be automatically entered. If you are not yet an approved Digital Journalist, create an account on the site and you can apply to become one by (clicking here). You may also publish your photo essay as a blog post in this Group. You must be a member of DigitalJournal.com.
• Photojournalists can file as many photo essays as they like throughout March. Only one entry will be selected as a winner, but there is no limit on the number of times you can enter.
• Photo essays do not need to be accompanied by full text reports, but they should include proper descriptions and cutlines to describe what is happening in your photos. All photos must be taken by the author of the news article or blog.
• Original photography must have been taken between 12:01 a.m. (Eastern) Feb. 1, 2010 and 11:59 p.m. (Eastern) on March 31, 2010.
• Digital Journal recommends you avoid generic, non-newsworthy photography such as photos of your cat, garden, family, food, skylines, fields, etc.
Additional info & rules:
• Entries will be judged in the sole discretion of staff members of DigitalJournal.com, and a winner will be announced in March 2010. Entries will be judged on journalistic merit, unbiased reporting, timeliness, depth of reportage, accuracy, overall structure and composition. DigitalJournal.com will give special consideration to reports that were challenging or difficult to complete.
• One winning entrant will receive a prize of $250 US, sent via PayPal. The winning entry will be promoted through various media (and especially on the front page of DigitalJournal.com).
• Any article, blog or photo essay found to contain plagiarized or erroneous content will be immediately disqualified and a runner-up will be chosen.
• All entries are subject to Digital Journal’s Terms of Use.
• You may enter both contests as many times as you wish.
• Rules subject to change without notice. Digital Journal reserves the right to update this page at any time.
• The contest is open to citizens of any country in which PayPal operates (see list).
• Decisions of the contest judges are final.
• By entering this contest or claiming the prize, entrants authorize the use, without additional compensation of his or her name and/or likeness and/or voice/photograph and/or news article and/or blog and/or photographs and municipality of residence for promotion and/or advertising purposes, related to this contest, in any manner and in any medium (including without limitation, radio broadcasts, newspapers and other publications and in television or film releases, slides, videotape, distribution over the Internet and picture data storage) which Digital Journal, Inc. may deem appropriate.
• By entering this contest, or accepting the prize, the winner acknowledges that Digital Journal, Inc. will not be held liable for any loss, damages or injury associated with entering this contest, accepting or using this prize(s).
• This contest is subject to all federal, provincial and municipal laws.
• By entering this contest, you agree Digital Journal, Inc. is not responsible or liable in the event of lost, removed, or missing entries. Each entrant is responsible for maintaining a copy of their entry/submission.
• All entries must be submitted electronically.
