AIPS Sport Media Awards’ third edition confirms global interest with high participation

AIPS Media

LAUSANNE, November 11, 2020 - In an extraordinarily complicated year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the AIPS Sport Media Awards can proudly announce that the third edition, whose submission period closed last Monday, will showcase 1871 works (in 34 different languages) coming from 129 different countries.

The AIPS Sport Media Awards team would like to thank all participants for their interest and resilience in these difficult times.

EXPANSION - In the opening edition of 2018, there were 1271 submissions from 119 countries. Last year, for the second edition, the Awards received 1746 submissions from 125 countries. In total, 153 nationalities were represented since the creation of the Awards.  

The 129 countries represented in this edition are split as follows: 39 from Europe, 34 from Africa, 28 from Asia, 26 from the Americas and 2 from Oceania.

The Awards are a celebration of those sports media professionals that produce the best and most creative content worldwide. As we stated in April, sport could get cancelled, but sports journalism couldn’t. In these exceptional times, another proof of outstanding journalism prevailed.

The 1871 works will now compete under 9 different categories in five different stages (first screening, first selection, first voting, second voting, final voting) to become winners, in a ceremony that will take place in February/March 2021, subject to the COVID-19 restrictions.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT - All submissions are first checked by the AIPS staff, in order to control dates, proof of publication, links or files attachments. All submissions other than in English are screened by native speakers and/or AIPS national associations, and rated by a panel of specialists to see if they need to be translated into English.

When the panel finalises the review process, the first selection of most valuable works is presented to the AIPS Executive Committee members, representing 24 different countries, for the first voting stage.

The shortlist is then passed to the Jury, established by 11 respected professionals from the five continents and presided by AIPS president Gianni Merlo. In the second voting stage, the Jury chooses the 3 finalists.

A final voting stage takes place the day before the ceremony.

PRIZES - The 8 senior categories in Photography (Action, Portfolio), Writing (Best Column, Best Colour Piece), Audio and Video (Short Feature, Athlete Profile, Documentary) offer a total sum of 104,000 US Dollars (US$, 8,000 per winner, US$, 3,000 for the second-placed and US$ 2,000 for the third-placed).

The Young Reporter Under 30 categories (Broadcasting, Photography and Writing) will reward three journalists with a scholarship at an international sporting event.

CERTIFICATES - AIPS will deliver certificates to all participants, and will also announce the continental rankings. In an attempt to maximise the positive impact that the AIPS Sport Media Award can produce in someone’s career, special certificates will be delivered to the best-rated works in each continent.

AIPS will publish updates regularly, including the Top 25 and Top 10 rankings, before announcing the three finalists.

The search for sport media excellence 2020 now begins. Massive thanks and good luck to all participants!