100 days to go, 100 things you should know about the AIPS Sport Media Awards 2021

AIPS Media

LAUSANNE, June 26, 2021 - Today marks 100 days to the deadline of this year's AIPS Sport Media Awards and here are 100 things you should know to participate in the most respected international award for sports journalists.

1) Submission is completely free.

2) Just sign up at www.aipsawards.com and, once you’ve created your own profile, you can submit your work.

3) Everyone can send up to two submissions across all categories.

4) There is time to submit until October 4, 2021.

5) All works must have been published between November 10, 2020, and October 4, 2021.

6) Categories are divided between Writing, Photography, Audio, Video (senior categories) plus the Young Reporters Under 30.

7) Writing has two subcategories: Best Column and Best Colour Piece.

8) Best Column: An article that shows a knowledgeable opinion and that demonstrates research, relevance, authority and an original view on a topic.

9) Best Colour Piece: An article that captures the emotion of an occasion in and around the sporting world, and that shows preparation, creativity, outstanding reporting and a flair for storytelling.

10) There is no word limit for submissions as long as they are articles. Book chapters and book prologues are not allowed, while book excerpts are only allowed if published under an article format in traditional or new media. They can be submitted in any language; however, translation into English is appreciated.

11) Photography has two subcategories: Action Picture (1 photo) and Portfolio (3, 4 or 5 photos).

12) Action Picture: An image that depicts a moment of excellence or athletic skill from a particular sporting event.

13) Portfolio: A portfolio of at least three but no more than five sports photos. These photos may be from the same sport or same event, or they may be from different events and different sports.

14) Photo entries must be provided from professional photographers only. Photographers may be asked to provide proof of their professional status.

15) A photograph may not be entered more than once i.e. a photo entered into the Action category cannot be entered into the Portfolio category and vice-versa. No team entries will be accepted.

16) Video has three subcategories: Short Feature, Athlete profile and Documentary.

17) Short Feature: A video shorter than 10 minutes in length on any sporting subject with strong storytelling, innovative filming and journalistic relevance.

18) Documentary: A video that tells a compelling and revealing story about any aspect of the sport world, showing qualitative research and editorial input combined with quality filmmaking.

19) Athlete profile: A video longer than 10 minutes that tells a compelling and revealing story about any aspect of the sport world, showing qualitative research and editorial input combined with quality filmmaking.

20) Minimum duration for Athlete profile and Documentary: 11 minutes.

21) All videos should be uploaded into the platform of AIPS Sport Media Awards in a valid video format.

22) If the documentary is part of a docu-series, please choose one episode to represent your submission.

23) A video published on a video sharing platform (YouTube, Vimeo, etc) will be considered valid as long as it complies with the rest of the Rules.

24) Audio category submissions can be either a radio report, podcast, piece of commentary or other audio submission that is not only compelling but also displays some technical innovation and quality research.

25) A jury of 11 relevant members of the sport media industry, plus AIPS president Gianni Merlo as president of the jury, will select the three finalists for each category or subcategory.

26) Jurors names and their career expertise in sport journalism are accessible in the website.

27) There’s a total of US$ 104,000 for all the finalists.

28) Winners of each of the 8 senior categories will be entitled to a money prize. The first prize for each is US$ 8,000.

29) Second-placed will earn US$ 3,000

30) The third-placed will be rewarded with US$ 2,000.

31) The Young Reporters category is open to professionals that are under 30 (born on or after January 1, 1992).

32) The Young Reporter Category has three subcategories: 1) Photography. 2) Writing. 3) Broadcasting (Audio & Video).

33) Each of the winners of the Young Reporter Categories will receive a career-boost opportunity: a scholarship to cover a major international sports event.

34) Young Reporter categories do not include second and third prize.

35) Out of the two submissions per person, only one can be used for Young Reporter category, but it is still possible to compete in one of the other main categories.

36) The final gala will take place in early 2022, date and venue to be confirmed depending on the pandemic situation.

37) There are no restrictions for languages. All languages are accepted in the submissions.

38) Journalists can be employees of a media outlet or work as freelancers. We are encouraging all professionals to participate, regardless of their working status.

39) What happens if you don’t find a category that suits your work? We recommend to contact us via email, or on social media. We will be happy to help.

40) Proof of publication is needed when submitting your work. It can be a link or a PDF, MP4 or audio file, depending on the category. In the case of submitting links, they must not be behind paywalls.

 41) There are 5 voting stages to reach the top of the world. We take the judging process very seriously, and for this reason we involve as many as 40 people from different countries.

42) The AIPS is the body that represents international sports media from websites, newspapers, radio and TV across all continents.

43) There are 161 national associations that are part of the AIPS network.

44) There are currently more than 9,500 AIPS members worldwide.

45) AIPS is an independent organisation, financed through membership fees and the contributions of international bodies and federations worldwide

46) The creation of the AIPS Sport Media Awards in 2018 was yet another step in the constant evolution of AIPS, whose first Congress was held in 1924 on the eve of Paris 1924 Olympic Games.

47) AIPS organises the AIPS Sport Media Awards in partnership with QSPC, the Qatar Sports Press Committee, as part of a shared drive to invest in culture and sport journalism, and purposefully protect and safeguard the integrity of the profession.

48) The Jury can also issue certificates of achievement for entrants that did not reach the final.

49) In the 2020 edition, following the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic, the president of the Jury decided to issue certificates for the best Covid-19 reporting across all categories.

50) Once the winners are announced, the AIPS Sport Media Awards also publish the continental rankings.

51) Understanding the value of this Award and the positive impact on a national and regional level, the continental rankings, based on the votes obtained in the 5 voting stages, celebrate the best performers in each category. Each continental section or national association is free to pay tribute to the best ranked.

52) The top ranked by continent also receive a diploma.

53) In order to submit your work journalists and photographers are required to sign up and create a profile at www.aipsawards.com, which is as easy as signing up for an email account.

54) Submissions should only be made via www.aipsawards.com before October 4, 2021, 18:00 CET.

55) Submissions will not be accepted by email, social media or any other platform.

56) Judging starts with our panel of experts and mentors, that analyse submissions and produce a longlist (first stage).

57) The longlist is presented to the AIPS Executive Committee (24 members) that will narrow the candidates in a shortlist (second stage).

58) The last three stages are carried out by the AIPS Sport Media Awards Jury: First they will vote the Top 5, then the Top 3 and, a day before the ceremony, the Winners.

59) Entries and information contained within any entry (including supporting documents) must have been obtained legally, must not infringe any copyright or other intellectual property rights, must not be defamatory or breach any privacy law, and must not breach any other law or regulation.

60) The photographs entered in the contest must be made by the photographer who owns and retains the copyright for the photo.

61) No team entries will be accepted for photography.

62) Photographs may not be manipulated to block out distracting elements or to make significant changes in color and contrast. Only cropping or removing dust and scratches are allowed.

63) You can always contact us if you have any queries regarding submissions, rules and doubts. We also publish regularly a Frequently Asked Questions that you are invited to check.

64) In the first edition of the Awards, there were participants from 119 countries.

65) The first gala ceremony took place in Lausanne, in January 2019. IOC president Thomas Bach delivered the opening speech of the 2018 Awards ceremony.

66) The second gala was held in Budapest, in February 2020. FIFA president Gianni Infantino welcomed the nominees on stage.

67) The third edition, due to the pandemic, was held in a medieval castle in Vigevano, Italy, in an online ceremony broadcast live on YouTube.

68) There are two special categories not open for submissions: Investigative reporting and A life in sport. These special categories will not have finalists: winners will be directly informed in advance by the jury. These categories are not entitled to a money prize.

69) In the event of qualifying for the final, a full transcript of the audio or the video could be asked to the entrant.

70) All finalists will be announced by AIPS in advance. They will have to be present in the final ceremony in order to claim the prize.

71) All participants must have been at least 18 years old on November 10, 2020.

72) There is no obligation to be an AIPS member to participate. However, all submissions need to be from one of the 161 countries that are part of the AIPS network. You can check the full list of countries in the www.aipsawards.com website.

73) As part of the cultural package of AIPS, in 2020 was presented the first AIPS e-College, an online two-month course to provide tools for the next generation of journalists.

74) In 2021, the second e-College adopted an innovative method with global sessions with simultaneous translation in 4 languages, plus separate regional tutorials performed in English, Spanish, Arabic or French.

75) Previous winners of the AIPS Sport Media Awards were guests in the global and continental sessions of the e-College.

76) The AIPS Sport Media Awards offer recognition to the best storytellers across all media platforms, from photography to video, from print to digital.

77) A total number of 1273 submissions participated in the first edition of the Aips Sport Media Awards.

78) The second edition showed a record of 1746 submissions from 120 countries.

79) The third edition set the record of 1871 submissions from 129 countries.

80) In order to submit your work journalists and photographers are required to sign up and create a profile at www.aipsawards.com, which is as easy as signing up for an email account. Simply choose ‘LOGIN’ and then ‘Create new account’.

81) Once logged in, you need to click “Add submission”. Select category and sub-category.
Put a title, description and upload link, pdf or file. Submit

82) You can create a second submission by repeating the procedure. Be aware that you need to repeat the process for a second submissions. We don’t accept two submissions in one form.

83) Please notice that you can make amendments of your submissions in the future, changing all fields except for ‘category’ and ‘sub-category’.

84) You can select if your work is in English and, if not, if you’ve submitted your English translation. If you haven’t, then the submission will be first screened by a native speaker of the AIPS panel of experts, plus the AIPS national associations, based on the original language, unless you want to provide your own English translation.

85) Only one submission for Young Reporter category will be accepted.

86) Only one file (one picture, one article or one video/audio) will be accepted per submission for the Young Reporters category.

87) The participation period for the current edition includes works first published since November 10, 2020, until October 4, 2021. Therefore, the participation window will include the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the men’s Euro and Copa America, among the rest of regular tournaments held every year.

88) If you want to check the previous winners, and their prestigious work, you can see all the names in the website.

89) Podium 2018 Edition, Lausanne ceremony.

90) Podium 2019 Edition, Budapest ceremony.

91) Podium 2020 Edition, Vigevano castle ceremony.

92) For more information, you can check the full rules at www.aipsawards.com

93) The www.aipsawards.com website publishes all the rules in different languages. But you can write to us in whatever language you speak, and we will get back to you.

94) Don’t forget to follow AIPS on social media: @AIPSmedia on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

95) The AIPS Awards organisers can decide to move your submission to a different category, if it is not complying with the regulations, or contact you if you need to edit your submission (ie missing files, missing proof of publication, etc).

96) No contact to discuss about your submission with the EC members or the Jurors will be accepted.

97) The AIPS Awards staff will be present in Tokyo. You can find us at the Media Center.

98) The most prestigious prize for international sports journalism can change your career.

99) It’s 100 days to go! Unfortunately, every year we had to reject dozens of submissions that came too late. Don’t miss out!

100) Submit now!