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tprandtxstateYeah, I know it’s the heat of summer and January seems eons away. But, the deadline for the TPRA Silver Spur/Best of Texas Awards Competition isn’t as far away as you might think.
I’m gearing up to manage what I think/hope will be my last contest. (I think it’s my 12th, but who’s counting?) So, please take a moment and respond to tell me what you think makes a contest worth entering.
And if you’re a veteran SS/BOT entrant, please let me know what you might like to see changed, retained, eliminated. What sort of new categories do we need? What categories need to be removed?
And watch for news coming at you via posts here, information on tpra.com and via e-mail. We’re not going to snail mail the Call for Entries this year. Instead, we’ll post it to the Web site and mail (and e-mail) you an announcement when we do.
As always, I remain a faithful pursuer of the “best of the best” in Texas public relations work.
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What makes a contest worth entering? One that’s credible, with a solid reputation. And accurate, to boot. It also doesn’t hurt if the award itself is pretty cool. Like a spur. How many other programs can boast that?!? In short, the Silver Spur/Best of Texas Awards is the one worth entering! And I’m not even being paid to say that.
Why do I believe this so strongly? 1) Because of TPRA’s track record. I’ve never witnessed miscalculations in scores (which I have experienced with other awards programs, unfortunately). 2) Because of the caliber of the judges. ‘Nuff said. 3) Because of the responsive nature of the program to evolving technologies and trends in our field, while remaining true to our roots. You’ll find categories to enter “new” media achievements. You’ll also find numerous writing categories to honor the foundation of our profession. 4) Because of the emphasis on results and evaluation, in addition to clever tactics and implementation. 5) Finally, because of the strength of the competition. If you win a Silver Spur or a Best of Texas Award, it means you truly are the best in our great state.
Having extolled the virtues of SS/BoT, there are just a couple things I’d recommend to improve the program:
• Require the judges to write solid reviews on the scoring sheets, not just a few, pithy comments. Many pay the entry fee expecting to get a serious assessment of their work.
• Compel more recipients to attend the awards ceremony. This should be easy in 2010, when it will be in Austin. The more present to celebrate, the more fun the event – and the better the networking.
Christina, thanks! (I wish you were on the payroll!) Would you have an example of what you’d consider a good critique form that you could share? I received more feedback about that this year than ever, and it’s a legitimate issue I want to address for 2010.
The trick, though, is to not make it too labor intensive for the judges — you know how they so often complain about having to do comments and critiques. I’m thinking, though, we could surely find some sort of numerical scale with space for comments that would provide some worthy feedback, and allow those who wanted to expand with comments room to do so.
Anyone else have ideas?