Summary

• Organize a competition for print journalists;
• help draw attention to the lack of coverage of cultural heritage preservation issues in mainstream news media.

Target group
Print journalists, and second, the general public.

Before the project

• Determine the scope you would like the contest to have: regional, national, or international;
• plan your time-line. The competition involves approximately one year of planning because a fair amount of time is required to inform the appropriate news media and journalists, and for journalists to write and publish articles;
• establish a committee, including representatives from the various parties involved. Delegate the following tasks: competition coordination, information dissemination to media, entry collection, jury selection, organization of the awards ceremony, and sponsorship;
• prepare and print the regulations – including conditions, categories, deadline, etc.;
• set out the rules for the competition. Ensure you establish very clear requirements that meet the objectives of the competition as determined by your committee. Ensure the jury is well-equipped with necessary information to make their selection. The jury should receive all the entries at least one month in advance of the final meeting;
• establish a media plan for publicizing the competition to ensure high levels of participation, and to give the awards a high public profile. Be sure to contact the related editors at each major media outlets;
• involve cultural institutions and universities by asking their help in identifying good articles on conservation issues.

During the project
Diffusion: Plan for one year to get the word out to journalists and to give them sufficient time to write and publish appropriate articles:

• include media agencies, websites, embassies, cultural institutions and other related organizations;
• note that asking for translations can be costly for journalists;
• consider only asking for a summary of the article to be translated for initial entry;
• If the article is selected for submission to the jury, request the full translation at that time.

Collection:

• set a deadline for article entry, allow two to three months to receive incoming articles;
• collect the articles, create a master list of participants, and screen the entries based on their conformity to regulations;
• nominate the jury; the number of members will depend on the number of articles received. The jury should include experts in several different disciplines: news media, heritage, conservation, public relations, etc.

Selection:

• provide each jury member a copy of the best entries;
• allow the jurors at least one month for review:
  • first, each juror should select winners and comment independently;
  • second, jurors should meet in a closed session as to assess the competition winners.

Awards: The nature of your awards will depend on your budget and sponsorships. Ideally you should hold a gala evening for the awards ceremony, invite someone well known to present them, such as a Nobel prizewinner.

Follow-up

• Collect and publish the best submissions, covering a wide range of topics and regions;
• maintain relationships with media and other participants for future competitions.

updated on: 8 August, 2006