100 days to go, 100 things you must know about the AIPS Sport Media Awards 2019


  • July 08, 2019


1) Submission is completely free.

2) Just sign up at www.aipsawards.com and submit your work.

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

4) There is time to submit until October 7, 2019.

5) All works need to have been published between September 18, 2018, and October 7, 2019.

6) Categories are divided between Writing, Photography, Audio, Video and the newly created Young Reporter Under 30.

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

8) Best Column: A piece that offers a considered and knowledgeable opinion, demonstrates relevance, authority, understanding of and insight into the issue and shows a flair for language. Opinion pieces, blogs, investigations and editorial articles fit in this category.

9) Best Colour Piece: A story that demonstrates innovation, thinking, research and is well written with passion and flair, best capturing the emotion of an occasion in and around the sporting world: reportage, features, chronicles and interviews can fit in this category.

10) There is no word limit for submissions as long as they are articles. They can be submitted in any language, however, translation into English is welcome.

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. All entries must carry complete English captions.

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

17) Short Feature: A video no longer 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 that portrays a captivating, in-depth image of an athlete or a prominent and relevant sport figure.

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) Please make sure to specify your specific role in the video (ie, director, producer, anchor). Also, please clarify if you have acquired footage or if it is all original and shot by your crew.

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 www.aipsawards.com

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

28) The winners of each category (or subcategory, where applicable) will be entitled to a money prize of US$ 8,000.

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

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

31) The newly created Young Reporter category is open to professionals that are under 30 (born on or after January 1, 1990).

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 February 2020 in Europe.

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.

39) In the case of photographers, they need to show proof of a professional status.

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) The AIPS Sport Media Awards are a celebration of sports media excellence, representing a new, inspiring horizon for sports journalists across the world.

42) The AIPS Sport Media Awards are present on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Telegram with dedicated accounts. Please follow @aipsawards.

43) Our hashtag is #SportMediaExcellence. The Awards social media accounts will be celebrating those professionals who continue to produce the best, most creative content worldwide.

44) To understand how the world of journalism is evolving, we have been proposing a series of contents called Deconstructing the Profession, to be shared across all platforms.

45) Media Tribune, Game Changers, Editor Speaking and Media Trends are part of the Deconstructing the Profession package.

46) By sharing these kind of stories, we look forward to celebrate Sport Media Excellence not just once a year in a fancy gala, but every day.

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

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

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

50) 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.

51) AIPS organises the AIPS Sport Media Awards in partnership with QSPC, the Qatar Sports Press Committee.

52) QSPC is offering broad support to AIPS as part of a shared drive to invest in culture and sport journalism, and purposefully protect and safeguard the integrity of the profession.

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 7, 2019, 18:00 CET.

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

56) The 24 AIPS Executive Committee members will screen all submissions and shortlist the best of them, that will qualify for the second phase.

57) The Jury will base its deliberations on nominations put forward by the AIPS Executive Committee and select the three finalists of each category.

58) The Jury will meet to determine the winners one day before the ceremony.

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.

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.

66) IOC president Thomas Bach delivered the opening speech of the Awards ceremony.

67) 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.

68) Ghanian undercover journalist Anas Aremayaw Anas claimed the Special Prize for Investigative Reporting for his stunning work that led to uncovering the corruption within African football in 2018.

69) Anas dedicated his personal success to the memory of his colleague and prominent member of his Tiger Eye Private Investigations team late Ahmed Hussein-Suale, who was murdered few days to the ceremony.

70) “I receive this award in honour of my colleague, Ahmed. I know he would have been here with me to receive this award if not for the unfortunate incident. But we will never surrender, because journalism is not a crime,” Anas said.

71) In the Awards’ first edition, special Award A Life in Sport was given to Austrian journalist Michael Kuhn, who has dedicated his life to sports journalism for more than half a century.

72) The Best Colour Piece award was given to Yo jugué al fútbol en Auschwitz (Marca), by Jose Ignacio Perez Hernandez managed to catch the absurdity of the scene, playing football, the game of joy and pleasure, in the atmosphere of death, the Holocaust.

73) Igor Rabiner (Sport Express) claimed the first prize in Best Column with a powerful view regarding boycotting Olympics. In his column, Athletes or Slaves? Rabiner Against Boycotting the Olympics (Sport-Express) Rabiner gives his opinions of boycotting the PyeongChang Olympics.

74) The winner of Audio category in the first edition was an icon from the past. “Horst Eckel - Forever a hero of Bern” tells the history of the last living German football world champion, one of the protagonists of the renowned “Miracle of Bern”, by Pirmin Styrnol & Jürgen Schmidt / SWR2

75) Photographer Vincent Riemersma (PZC) was the winner of Action Picture for his shot Skating Shadows, during the Open Dutch marathon-speedskating Championships (ONK)

76) Adam Pretty (Getty Images) claimed the number 1 in the Portfolio category for the Budapest World Swimming Championships.

77) The People’s fighters: Teofilo Stevenson and the legend of Cuban boxing, was awarded with the first prize in Athlete Profile. Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, Greg Groggel, Peter Berg (Olympic Channel) received the prize.

78) Emanuela Audisio (3D Produzioni) won the Best Documentary prize for 1968 - Sport and Revolution, as she reconstructs the revolutionary 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City and tells the story about how they changed political awareness towards sport.

79) We Love Volley, from China, written by journalist Yin Ma, received the first prize for Best Weblog category.

80) Entries from blogs will now participate in the writing categories: Best Column, Best Colour Piece or, depending on the participant, on Young Reporter Under 30 in Writing.

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

82) 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.

83) For those selected as finalists, transport and accommodation to the final gala will be fully covered by AIPS.

84) All participants must have been at least 18 years old on September 18, 2018.

85) 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.

86) In 2018, AIPS Media promoted the AIPS Sport Media Awards with journalists attending PyeongChang Winter Olympics, UEFA Champions League and Europa League finals, FIFA World Cup Russia 2018, among other international sports events.

87) The new category Video Short Feature represents a valuable addition to video-makers. Whether it is a one-minute video created for Instagram, a five-minute interview on YouTube, a 7-minute story available on Vimeo or the average 5-minute piece for TV, they can now compete together, in a universe of their own.

88) In 2019, promotion included FIFA Women’s World Cup and U17 World Cup, UEFA U21 EURO, African Cup of Nations, European Games in Minsk, FISU Summer Universiade in Naples, Italy, PanAmerican Games, among other top events.

89) The www.aipsawards.com provides all the rules and it’s available in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Arabic, Chinese, German and Romanian.

90) Lausanne ceremony was broadcast live by Facebook and via satellite signal through Eurovision's WorldFeed.

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

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

93) Remember, all participating works must have been published/broadcast between September 17, 2018, and October 7, 2019.

94) Last day for submitting is October 7, 2019, 18:00 Central European Time.

95) Journalists can submit two works for any of the main categories of their choice or one for Young Reporter and one for another category.

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

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

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

99) Have you submitted your work yet?

100) Do it now!







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