2006 Florida Associated Press Broadcasters Contest

The 2006 Florida Associated Press Broadcasters Contest is designed to recognize Florida AP member stations for outstanding performance in broadcast journalism. Stations must belong to the AP to enter the competition.

CONTEST RULES:

Entries must have been broadcast in calendar 2005. Please review the rules carefully.

THE ENTRY DEADLINE IS FRIDAY, FEB. 10, 2006, by 5 p.m. (entry form)

Each entry must be on its own cassette (VHS for television, SP speed only; cassette for radio). If the same material is submitted in two categories, duplicate must be provided. There is a limit of two entries per station in each category, except Individual Achievement (explained below.)

EACH ENTRY TAPE MUST BE LABELED with market size, category and station call letters. The reporter's name must be on tapes for Individual Achievement category. Each entry also must be accompanied by two copies of contest entry form.

There is a 20-minute time limit for entries, except as noted below. Entries may be accompanied by a 100-word description of their contents. THE DECISION OF THE JUDGES IS FINAL, and ties are possible. It is also possible there could be NO award in a category.

Entries in Spanish and other foreign language are welcome.

The fee is $50 per entry. Checks should be made out to Florida AP Broadcasters.

All entries should be sent to:

Florida AP Broadcasters Contest
c/o Rosemarie Mileto
The Associated Press
9100 NW 36th St., Suite 104
Miami FL 33178

TELEVISION MARKET DIVISIONS:

Large Market: Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Tampa-St. Petersburg , Orlando .
Medium Market: West Palm Beach , Pensacola , Fort Myers , Jacksonville .
Small Market: All others.

RADIO MARKET DIVISIONS:

Division I: Statewide networks, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach , Tampa-St. Petersburg, Orlando , Jacksonville .
Division II: All other markets.

CATEGORIES:

Best Hurricane Coverage. Up to 20 minutes. Should reflect a year's overall hurricane coverage; station to decide what to include for best overview. An entry in this category does not preclude entries in other categories.

Best TV Newscast.

Best Radio Newscast. Up to 5 minutes. Must be locally anchored.

Best Radio Newscast. Up to 15 minutes. Must be locally anchored.

Best Newscast entries for radio and TV MUST be from one of the designated Contest Days. REMEMBER TO MARK THE DATE ON YOUR ENTRY FORM.

Here are the contest days for Best Radio and TV Newscast category ONLY for the 2006 Florida AP Broadcasters contest . Best Sportscast and Best Weathercast are not tied to any of these specific dates.

Stations must choose from one of the following days to submit ONE newscast entry. Stations may also submit a second newscast entry on any date of their choosing.

-- Monday, July 11.

-- Tuesday, August 2.

-- Sunday, August 28.

-- Wednesday, September 21.

-- Thursday, October 20.

-- Friday, November 18.

-- Saturday, December 10.

Best Spot News. On-the-scene coverage of an unscheduled, breaking news story.

Best Continuing Coverage. Coverage of a longer running story of local interest. For example, a trial or political issue.

Best Investigative. An in-depth expose of a single subject. This can be reported in a single newscast or a series of newscasts.

Best Sportscast. Up to 10 minutes. Must include anchor with taped and/or live work. Entry MUST be from one of the designated Contest Days listed above.

Best Sports Feature. Up to 5 minutes. Must be a single story or one segment of a multipart series.

Best Breaking Sports News. Up to 3 minutes. Must be a single story or one segment of a multipart series for a breaking story or a hard-news topic as it relates to sports coverage (i.e., player's arrest, debate over public funding of new sports arena).

Best Weathercast. Up to 10 minutes. Must include anchor with taped and/or live work. Entry MUST be from one of the designated Contest Days listed above.

Best Overall. Up to 20 minutes. Should reflect a year's overall news coverage; station to decide what to include for best overview.

Best Spot News Video . Can be montage of up to 3 stories.

Best Photo Essay. Can include nat sound and/or voice.

Best Use of Sound For Radio. Up to 5 minutes.

Best Short Light Feature . Up to 90 seconds for radio. Up to 3 minutes for TV.

Best Long Light Feature. Up to 15 minutes for radio and TV.

Best Short Hard News Feature. Up to 2 minutes for radio. Up to 5 minutes for TV.

Best Long Hard News Feature. Up to 15 minutes for radio and TV.

Best Public Affairs. Can be a program or a series of stories to raise public

awareness of an issue for public good (i.e. United Way , voter registration, etc.).

Individual Achievement. Up to 3 entries permitted per station. Each entrant's tape must include at least one example each of a hard news story, a spot news story and a feature story. Up to 15 minutes per entry.

Chris MacGill Best of Show. NO SEPARATE ENTRY REQUIRED. Winners of other categories will be pooled. There will be ONE winner from radio (all categories and market sizes) and ONE from TV (all categories and market sizes). Winners in each category will receive $500.

Questions?
Call Suzette Laboy at 1-800-824-5498. E-mail: slaboy@ap.org