Scottish Student Journalism Awards 2020

Student journalists across Scotland are invited to submit entries to this year’s Scottish Student Journalism Awards.

The SSJAs will be run this year in association with BBC Scotland and in partnership with headline sponsor, News Scotland. The event will also be supported by a number of media groups including the Scottish Newspaper Society, DC Thomson Media, the Daily Record, Holyrood Magazine and the NUJ.

The awards ceremony will take place on May 20th 2020.

All entries will be judged and presented by a panel of industry experts.

The annual event is a showcase for exceptional journalistic talent across all platforms and is an opportunity for students to have their work recognised.

The categories this year are:

The Calum Macdonald Student Journalist of the Year (Sponsored by SNS)

Student Publication of the Year (Sponsored by DC Thomson Media)

Student Website of the Year (Sponsored by SNS)

News Story of the Year (Sponsored by Reach)

Sports Story of the Year (Sponsored by the Scottish Sun)

Arts and Entertainment Story of the Year

Feature of the Year (Sponsored by DC Thomson Media)

Column of the Year (Sponsored by Holyrood Magazine)

Scoop of the Year (sponsored by the Scottish Sun)

Short Broadcast Story of the Year (in association with BBC Scotland)

Long Broadcast Story of the Year (in association with BBC Scotland)

Podcast of the Year (in association with BBC Scotland)

Mobile Journalism Story of the Year (in association with BBC Scotland)

The Scottish Journalism Awards 2020 are open solely to journalism students in higher or further education across Scotland, students who have contributed to a student publication or students who have completed a journalism unit/module. All work entered must have been created during the academic year 2019/20 and completed by 1st April 2020 to enable judging ahead of the awards.

All submission must be submitted to the SSJA email ssja2020@gmail.com by 1st April 2020. Entries after this date will not be accepted.

Competition Rules – Terms and Conditions

1. These terms and conditions apply to every ‘Awards’ that we, The Scottish Student Journalism Awards’ administer.

2. By entering the Awards you are accepting that you will be legally bound by these terms and conditions.

3. We recommend that you print or save a copy of these terms and conditions for future reference.

4. The Scottish Student Journalism Awards are open only to students currently admitted on a journalism course at a Scottish institution for further or higher education, students who have contributed to a student publication or students who have completed a journalism unit or module and who are living in the UK at the date of entry.

5. Whether any eligibility requirement has or has not been met is always at our sole discretion and we reserve the right to ask for evidence or confirmation from entrants.

6. The Awards are not open to employees of institutions for further or higher education, the committee of the SSJA, or their family members.

7. The Mobile Journalism Award, Broadcast and Best Podcast Award categories are not open to employees, agents or contractors of the BBC or their immediate families.

8. Award categories are not open to the employees or the immediate families of the media organisation judging said category.

9. All work entered must have been created during the academic year 2019-2020 and completed by April 1st 2020.

10. Students cannot submit cuttings that have been edited by a professional journalist.

11. Submissions for Student Publication of the Year must have been produced as part of a university or college journalism course or must be an official college or university publication.

12. Nominations for Student of the Year should be made by course tutors will an explanation as to why the student deserves the nomination, evidence of how they

have made a difference through their journalism and evidence of investigative journalism. Examples of work should be submitted.

13. A maximum of four students can be nominated for Student of the Year per academic centre.

14. Anyone wishing to enter the Scottish Student Journalism Awards must email their submitted work. In the case of large files, students can use Google Drive, Dropbox or similar to send their work to the SSJA team.

15. All identifying information such as name, college or university must be included in the application form.

16. All identifying information will be removed by the SSJA Committee before judging in order to avoid any bias in the judging stage.

17. No responsibility can be taken for entries that are lost, delayed, misdirected, incomplete, or cannot be delivered or entered for any technical or other reason.

18. SSJA reserves the right not to process entries with illegible or incomplete application forms or those that do not include the correctly entered material.

19. Entries must be the original work of the entrant. Any evidence of plagiarism will result in the entry being withdrawn.

20. By submitting an application form to enter the awards, you confirm that you meet the criteria and have the right to enter having obtained all and any consents, permissions and authorisations that may be necessary for entry.

21. No student can enter any category more than once and we reserve the right to disqualify all entries we believe to be from a student who has attempted multiple entries within a category and to return any awards they have won.

22. Entrants are entitled to enter unlimited categories.

23. We reserve the right to disqualify a student or to withdraw a prize if a winner threatens or abuses any Awards organiser, judge, sponsor, host, guest speaker, shortlisted student or guest or otherwise conducts themselves in a manner that we reasonably regard as inappropriate, offensive or unlawful.

24. Entries on behalf of another person or organisation will not be accepted.

25. From the entries, the shortlist judges will select a shortlist of entries per category which they consider to be the best.

26. Only shortlisted entrants will be contacted by the SSJA Committee by e-mail. All shortlisted entrants will be invited to attend the Awards. The winner and runner up in each category of the awards as chosen by the judges will be announced at the Awards ceremony. More complete details of the ceremony will be provided at the time the SSJA notifies entrants that they have been included in a category shortlist.

27. The judges’ decisions are final. No negotiations or correspondence with entrants will be entered into.

28. We offer no cash alternative for non-cash prizes and prize winners must accept prizes in the form offered.

29. No additional, further or other costs or expenses are included in any prize unless stated. For example, the costs of transport to and from work experience or an internship are not included.

30. Third party suppliers of prizes may also often stipulate their own terms, conditions or restrictions and all prize winners agree to be bound by these. The SSJA shall have no liability in relation to any prize provided by a third-party provider.

31. Winners may be required for promotional activity which is part of the condition of entry.

32. Material entered will not be returned to senders. You are encouraged to retain a copy for your own records.

33. Details of winners will be found on official Award social media pages and the Scottish Student Journalism Awards website.

34. SSJA accepts no responsibility for any damage, loss, liabilities, injury or disappointment incurred or suffered by you as a result of entering the Awards or accepting the prize. SSJA further disclaims liability for any injury or damage to your or any other person’s computer, relating to or resulting from participation in or downloading any material in connection with the Awards. Nothing shall exclude the liability of SSJA for death, fraud or personal injury as a result of its negligence.

35. All applications must submit a high-quality profile photograph of themselves which may be used for promotional purposes for the Awards.

36. SSJA is under no obligation to publish or exhibit any entry, however images of stories shortlisted may be used for presentational purposes on the nights of the Awards in programmes, slide-shows etc.

37. In consideration of SSJA agreeing to consider their entry, each entrant: Grants SSJA a royalty-free licence to copy, edit, display, publish, broadcast and make

available for entry in any format in connection with the Awards or promotion of the Awards.

Agrees that SSJA may publish their name and photograph in connection with any promotional use of their entry.

Warrants that the work submitted with their entry is their own or the relevant team’s original content; that it is not defamatory; and that it shall not infringe any third-party rights including, without limitation or privacy.

38. Entrants warrant that they are the person in the photograph provided and they have prior consent from all persons in any image or images they submit as part of their entry.

39. Entrants acknowledge that we may edit the photograph or video at our sole discretion.

40. SSJA reserves the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Awards or any feature thereof with or without prior notice due to reasons outside its control (including, but not limited to, the case of anticipated, suspected or actual fraud).

41. Obtaining time off work/study to participate in the Awards or take a prize will be the sole and absolute responsibility of each entrant.

42. These terms and conditions shall be governed by the laws of Scotland.

COPYRIGHT

By entering the Awards all entrants: Assign to the SSJA all rights to their entry for use in publicity materials in all

media (including, without limitation, the internet) and whether in existence now or created in the future.

Agree not to assert any moral right in respect of their entry and the publicity materials against the SSJA

Undertake that their entry is not in breach of any third-party intellectual property rights and will not contain anything, which is defamatory, indecent, harassing or threatening and that they will indemnify us for any loss, damage or liability arising should this turn out not to be true. If relevant, we reserve the right, but not the obligation, to screen, filter and/or monitor information provided by the entrant and to edit, refuse to distribute or remove the same.

Confirm that they have the right, power and authority to grant the rights set out above and that they have obtained all consents and permissions necessary to grant us the same.

Data Protection

Entrants to the Awards should complete the electronic application form which only requests the minimum amount of personal information necessary in order to run the Awards.

The SSJA will respect and protect your data whilst it is in our care and are aware of their responsibilities under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Personal information (such as name and email address) will not be passed on to third parties without the user’s prior knowledge and consent.

Judges are sent entries anonymously with no personal information from applicants.

We may share social media posts relevant to the SSJAs using official SSJA branded social media sites.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 you have the right to see what information we hold about you and you may ask us to make any changes that you consider necessary to make the information accurate. If you contact us directly to see the data you must satisfactorily identify yourself to demonstrate your entitlement to view this data.

The SSJA will only use your information to contact you regarding the Awards, to send you information and general communications.

If you have previously provided us with your email address and any other information and later decide you do not wish the SSJA to have it, you may ask us to delete it by contacting the SSJA team directly; and in such case you must retain proof of correspondence.

Our website will contain links to other sites, such as official sponsors and the Awards venue that are not under our control. Such sites do not necessarily follow our privacy policies and

may place their own cookies on your computer. This practice is standard on the internet and we do not control cookies placed on your computer by third parties whose advertising or links appear on our site.

The SSJA take all responsible steps to protect the information you provide us from theft, alteration or unauthorised inspection.

Our website and social media sites gather information such as how they found and navigated the site, however this information is anonymous and only used to enhance the website.

Allowed formats

Video and audio pieces

Must be cut packages of not more than:

In the case of video entries – maximum two minutes duration for short broadcast and 10 minutes maximum for long broadcast

In the case of any audio as part of an entry – maximum three minutes duration In the case of Podcast entries – between 10 and 12 minutes duration. Entries must be accompanied by a copy of the script and/or script notes. In the case of mobile journalism pieces – 60 seconds to 90 seconds duration – must

be uploaded from a mobile device to a website or social media. It should be accompanied by still photographs and credit should be given for infographics. The piece should be shot and edited on a smart phone.

The intended or actual outlet must be identified in a supporting statement.

Written pieces

Can be submitted as PDFs or word files For categories where a brief is to be submitted along with the story, it should outline

how the story was sourced, verified and pulled together. Entries will be submitted to judges anonymously so do not write your name on the

piece of work you have entered. Do this only on your application form. If your work has been published, you will be asked to send a link to the website or a

pdf of the article if you are shortlisted. This is for programme and presentation purposes only, not for judges.

Text

12pt Times New Roman Double line spacing No headers or footers Normal (2.54cm) spacing for margins (Microsoft Word default margins) Applicant’s name must not be on a submitted piece.

Images

Please supply a high resolution (at least 300dpi) images of yourself with your application

DEADLINE: All forms must be e-mailed to the SSJA at ssja2020@gmail.com by 1st April 2020.

You can keep up to date with the event on:

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Website: SSJAwards.co.uk