MULTIPLATFORM CONTENT
Q: We have a multiplatform series that fits the category. Can I submit separate Digital, TV and Radio entries for Diversity on the same topic?
A: Yes. You may also include the same web link in multiple submissions as long as the rest of the content submitted is not identical.
If you want all your Digital, TV and Radio content judged in a single submission, you would need to enter the Multiplatform In-depth or Investigative (Dan McArthur) Award. Please ensure the content matter is suitable for that award.
BREAKING NEWS – HOW LONG IS IT “BREAKING?”
Q: I would like to submit a digital Breaking News entry. The story developed over several days. How much coverage can I submit?
A: You may submit coverage from when the first story was published. Include that first story in your entry. If that is too limiting, consider entering Continuing Coverage.
THE NORTH – REGIONAL OR NETWORK?
Q: I work on a program that is broadcast in all three territories. Should that be entered as Regional or Network?
A: Regional. Although the three territories cover a huge geographical area, we are talking about a total population of only 110,000. It would be unfair to make an entry like that compete against a genuine Network entry that theoretically covers a country of 35 million.
HOW ABOUT REGIONAL AND NETWORK?
Q: Our item was broadcast (in slightly different versions) both regionally and on the network? Can we enter both?
A: Not usually. You really can only get one kick at the can. It depends on the original intent when produced – for regional or network broadcast. If the answer in this case was “both” (which is unusual but not impossible) then you could choose one or the other, regional OR network. The only time that two might be permissible is if the final products were radically different (radically does not mean a shortened version.) Please contact RTDNA before you enter a similar item for both regional and network awards.
MULTI-PLATFORM. HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?
Q: Rules state entry must include two broadcast clips. Can we submit more than two (staying under the 30 minute max), or is two clips the limit?
A: You can submit up to 7 items – from at least two different platforms. All these (and similar) variations would be acceptable:
- 1 TV story / 1 Web story
- 4 TV stories / 3 Radio stories
- 1 Radio story / 6 Web stories
- 2 TV stories / 3 Web stories / 2 Radio stories
LIVE SPECIAL EVENTS ON MULTIPLE PLATFORMS
Q: Coverage of our local election started on TV, then continued online (only) and then returned to TV at the end of the evening. Can we include an URL for the online coverage as part of our TV entry?
A: Yes. But the judges will consider the video portion of the website only. In other words, they will NOT take into consideration any articles, interactives, audio, etc. as part of a TV entry.
ONLINE ELECTION COVERAGE
Q: Our election coverage began as Facebook Live exclusively. After an hour, it was also broadcast. Can we enter as digital?
A: Yes. All of the material should have appeared online with 75% of the material entered produced solely for the web.
HOW DIGITAL IS DIGITAL?
Q: From my understanding, digital submissions need to be digital first (as in not TV or radio pieces re-used for web). Is that correct?
A: That is correct. The bulk of the digital entry should be digital. Additional elements can be repurposed.
CO-PRODUCTION
Q: In our digital entry, can I submit articles written by our co-production partners that appeared on our website?
A: Yes. Since they appeared on your website, you may include them.
TWO ITEMS IN ONE ENTRY?
Q: Can I submit a 2-part radio story for the Excellence in Sound Award. Both pieces, the original and follow-up, total less than 10 minutes.
A: Yes, if no editing is required. This would also be allowed in the Excellence in Video category. There should be five seconds of silence for an audio entry or five seconds of black for a video entry between the two segments. Alternatively there can be an audio or video “slate” dividing the two segments.
EDITING A NEWSCAST
Q: I am entering best TV Newscast. Can I edit my entry?
A: For the Best Newscast (TV or Radio) and Best News Information Program (TV or Radio) categories, you may submit three separate clips from the same program with the same airdate. A late in and an early out are permitted. But no fine editing is allowed, e.g. removing 30 seconds from the body of the piece.
BEST RADIO NEWSCAST AND TOP-OF-THE HOUR COVERAGE
Q: For the Radio Newscast, our news hits at the top of the hour are around 5 minutes — can we use multiple clips over the course of one day as long as it’s below the half-hour limit?
A: Yes. You choose whatever clips you’d like up to a maximum of 5.
COPYRIGHT AND B-ROLL
Q: Our story has a significant amount of the B-roll shot by another source. Is there any problem with submitting this story?
A: If you hired a freelancer, that would be okay even if he/she is not an employee. Do not submit an entry where a significant amount was found online or simply given to you. The footage should have been produced under your direction.
LIVE SPECIAL EVENTS AND REGULARLY SCHEDULED NEWSCASTS
Q: Our regular 11 pm newscast covered our local election. Can we entered it under Live Special Events?
A: If the entire newscast was devoted to that single event only, yes.
OVERLAPPING ENTRIES
Q: We have a Best Newscast entry and within that 30-minute piece, there is one item we would like to submit for Excellence in Video. Will this be acceptable for judging?
A: Yes. A maximum of one item (less than 3 minutes) may overlap between Best Newscast and another entry.
MORE OVERLAP
Q: We’re using our election coverage for a couple different categories — mostly with no overlap, but one thing we want to use in multiple spots is our Facebook Live show we did leading into our regular broadcast on election night. We’re thinking it fits as a Live Special Event (Digital), but we also want to include it as part of the Excellence in Social Media AND the Excellence in Innovation awards. How much leeway to we have to reuse something like this?
A: You could enter election coverage for each with one URL that overlaps between the entries.
IS THIS PROPER FOR “INNOVATION?”
Q: As part of our Election coverage, we hosted candidates debates for all seven of our city’s area electoral districts. The one-hour debates were broadcast live on radio but, in order to embrace new ways of reaching our audience, we conducted the debates in larger venue and streamed them over Facebook Live in real-time. I would like to submit our Facebook broadcasts of the debates for an Excellence in Innovation Award and would like to know if this is the right category for us. Also, we are a radio station but wouldn’t be submitted audio… instead it would be URL’s to the videos. Would that be okay?
A: Yes.
CLIPS AND CONTINUING COVERAGE
Q: Continuing Coverage entries can have a maximum of five clips. Can the same clip have two reporters?
A: Yes. A “clip” would be contiguous (non-edited) programming. If you originally went from one reporter straight into another into another reporter (and there’s no editing), that would be one clip.
CONTINUING COVERAGE AND THE “INITIAL COVERAGE”
Q: We did a series on the 30th anniversary of the death of a black man at the hands of the police. Is that too long of a range for this to fit into Continuing Coverage? Because it covers a theme and a local issue, but it doesn’t have a moment of “initial coverage.”
A: That is acceptable. Be sure to include your initial report in your entry.
MARKET SIZE
Q: Should I submit as Small/Medium or Large Market station?
A: The following are Canada’s Large Market Stations: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal. Entries from ALL OTHER CITIES should be submitted as Small/Medium.
DURATION AND URLs
Q: When filling out an entry, what duration should I enter when linking to an URL?
A: Leave that field empty.
IS THIS OKAY OR DOUBLE DIPPING?
Q: I would like to enter a great newscast. That newscast had a great item that I would also like to submit. May I submit both?
A: Identical content can appear in two categories. For example, a Short Feature which appeared as part of a Best Newscast entry. However, the duration of the overlap should not exceed 25% of the duration of the second entry.
SAME TOPIC FOR SAME CATEGORY IN RADIO AND TV?
Q: Can you enter the same category in both radio and TV? For example, a flood for Breaking News.
A: If they are different reports – and the radio is not simply the audio track of the TV report – yes.
NO KEYS? OKAY?
Q: My item has no keys or supers. Is that okay?
A: Yes.
EXCELLENCE IN SOUND AND THEME MUSIC
Q: My Excellence in Sound entry contains commercial theme music that goes straight to natural sound. Is the theme music permitted?
A: Yes, the theme music is permitted but it will not be judged if it’s commercial music. Mention
this in your entry. If it happened to be original, you should also mention this in your entry so that it could be judged.
CAN A NEWSCAST BE AN INFO PROGRAM?
Q: Our evening TV newscast goes behind the headlines and focuses on features, analyses and reporter debriefs. Can we enter TV News Information Program rather than TV Newscast?
A: No. It is still a TV Newscast.
TWO CITIES, ONE PROVINCE, ONE WEBSITE
Q: Our province only has one website. My city would like to enter Continuing Coverage (Digital) and so would the other city. Can we both enter the same category?
A: Yes, if there is no overlap on the stories between the two cities.
ENGAGEMENT AND FACEBOOK
Q: We engaged our listeners on FACEBOOK and our website. Are we permitted to submit links to our other platforms as further proof of engagement?
A: Yes
OPINION AND COMMENTARY (DIGITAL)
Q: Do the three links need to be the same author? Could there be three links with the same author, but different subjects?
A: The three links do not need to be the same author, as long as it is the same subject.
Alternatively you can submit three different subjects, as long as it is the same author.
LIVE SPECIAL EVENTS
Q: Prior to our provincial election, we created a public forum to discuss the options – to hear from the proponents and detractors of each voting option. It was in a local school cafeteria, and live broadcast on our webpage and on Facebook. Huge turnout, dynamic event. Lots of engagement. Does it qualify for Live Special Events Category?
A: Yes
ADDING URLS TO RADIO AND TV SUBMISSIONS
Q: Should I include a URL link to a web piece based on the story, even if the submission is for a radio or TV submission?
A: You are welcome to add the URL. Judges may elect to take a look but are not required to do so.
DIGITAL ENTRIES
Q: When submitting in a Digital category, is all of the material on the page considered?
For example, any embedded videos or audio?
A: Judges may screen and consider some of the embedded content, but we could not reasonably expect them to watch them all. If there were two or three pieces of media on a web page – and five pages in an entry – multiplied by several entries in a category. That would be far too onerous for the judges. In other words, expect the judges to click on some, but not all, just as a visitor to your page might do.
ENTRY CHARACTER LIMIT / SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS
Q: Is there a character limit for the text fields on the awards entry? Are additional Word document allowed as part of the submission?
A: 1,000 characters. No additional documents may be submitted.
AWARD ENTRY ACCOUNT AND PASSWORD
Q: I created an award entry account and password last year. Can I reuse it?
A: No. You will need to create a new one.
OOPS. I SUBMITTED TOO SOON
Q: I submitted my entry and would like to make a revision/correction. Can I?
A: If you accidentally submit your entry before you are ready, you may make changes as long as the final deadline has not passed. On your account page, click on “My Submissions” at top right. Find the award you would like to edit and under “Actions” you should be able to click on Edit.
MULTI-PART SERIES IN LONG FEATURE CATEGORY
Q: Can multi-part series which aired over three days be entered for the Long Feature (Dave Rogers) Award?
A: No. Entries for Long Feature (5-30 minutes) and the Short Feature (under 5 minutes) awards should be single items. The “Feature” categories recognize the challenge and art of crafting a single documentary that stands on its own. Multi-part items can be entered in the “Continuing Coverage” or the “In-depth or Investigative” categories, as long as the items meet those categories’ other criteria.
TRANSLATIONS
Q: I am going to be entering a Live Special Event. It was broadcast both in Inuktitut and English. Our bilingual host did the show in both languages and much of the script was the same in both languages. She would first talk in Inuktitut and then repeat in English. Do I still have to have all of the Inuktitut translated into English?
A: No. You do not need to do a line-by-line translation – especially if it was essentially translated on-air. A summary will suffice. Much more detail is needed for items not translated on-air. But it does not need to be a line-by-line transcript unless one is readily available.
Q: I have translated portions of the submission from Inuktitut into English. Where shall I include the translation as part of my entry?
A: Include your translation in a Word document and upload it as part of your entry. To do that, click on the red “Add File” button at the top of the “Submission attachments” page. In addition, in the box “Description of submission,” add a line that you are uploading the translation document so that the judges will keep an eye out for it.
THEME MUSIC
Q: My radio entry contains commercial theme music and then goes straight into natural sound. Is the commercial theme music permitted?
A: Yes, commercial theme music is permitted but will not be judged as part of the entry.
Only theme music created by the station will be judged.
DUPLICATE AWARDS
Q: I am part of a winning team. Can I order an additional award for myself? With my name on it?
A: Additional awards may be ordered through the RTDNA. Please note that awards presented at our awards galas include the name of the category, the name of winning entry and the winning organization. Names of individuals who worked on the entry do not appear on that award. If you would like to order an additional award with your name on it, please include a supporting email from a senior manager in your organization verifying that you were part of the winning team and approving your request. The cost is $82.00 per award plus tax and delivery costs and must be ordered by June 28, 2019. The link to order a duplicate award will provided at a later stage.
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