AIPS to launch new global Sport Media Awards in PyeongChang

PYEONGCHANG, February 18, 2018 – At the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games, AIPS will launch a new international platform for the celebration of sport storytellers and development of sport media excellence.

The AIPS Sports Media Awards will mark a new chapter in the recognition of the professionals who work tirelessly to make sport a global language, through its coverage, analysis and capture of key moments, images and characters.

The Awards will be open to print and web journalists, radio and television reporters, photographers and videographers and will be judged by an international jury of esteemed journalists and experts across various fields.

The AIPS Sport Media Awards will be open to all professional journalists, both directly employed and freelancers, with applications open to AIPS cardholders as well as those who are not members of the association. At their core the Awards represent the international face of sports journalism, with entries across all categories welcome in any languages.

The AIPS Sport Media Awards website will be open for submissions in March 2018, for all entries published between July 1, 2017 and September 17, 2018.

The event will be annual and the first edition of the Awards ceremony will be organized in January 2019, in the Olympic capital of Lausanne, Switzerland.

AIPS will partner with QSPC, the Qatar Sports Press Committee, for the AIPS Sport Media Awards. QSPC is offering broad support to AIPS as part of a shared drive to invest in culture and sports journalism, and purposefully protect and safeguard the integrity of the profession.

AWARD CATEGORIES

The AIPS Sport Media Awards look to recognise and reward quality, innovation and originality across eight categories:

Photography

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

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

Writing

3) Best Column: A piece that best demonstrates relevance, knowledge and authority in the field of sport writing.

4) Best Colour Piece: Writing that best captures the emotion and sense of occasion in and around the sporting world

Audio

5) The audio category recognises excellence in sports journalism produced in audio formats - the special skills required to present content for radio, TV, digital broadcast, including podcasts and vodcasts.

Video

The video categories are dedicated to those who, on traditional or new media platforms, harness the moving image in sport, from the cameraman to the video web caster, to the producer or production team represented by one individual covering a sport event.

6) Athlete profile: A video that portrays a captivating, in-depth image of an athlete.

7) Documentary: A video that tells a compelling and revealing story about any aspect of the sport world.

Journalistic weblog

8) This category will be judged on an individual’s capacity to engage, sustain and grow a web-based community around discussion of sport and exchange of opinions. One blog entry should be chosen as a submission that best represents the journalistic weblog as a whole.

SPECIAL AWARD CATEGORIES

Two Special Awards will recognize those who have made a significant impact on the world of sports media in the following fields:

A Life in Sport

A lifetime recognition award for a media professional who has demonstrated passion and excellence in the field of sport journalism.

Investigative Reporting

Dedicated to an investigative treatment, on traditional or new media platforms, that identifies and explains and/or reveals sport related topics or issues judged to be of public interest.

These two categories will not be open to submission.

A maximum of 2 separate submissions per entrant are allowed across all categories of the awards, with all submission rules and details to be made public on the AIPS Sport Media Awards Website in March 2018.