Awards. A pain in the butt.
I love awards and the thought of being recognized for a job well done--just like the next guy. Getting to that place is a bit more complex than you would imagine.
In baseball, for instance, a player leading his league in home runs, batting average, and runs batted in wins the Triple Crown Award. They don't have to do a thing, except play their butts off!
In basketball, a player who, during a game, hits double digits in three of the following: points, rebounds, assists, steals, or shots blocked is awarded the honor of having a Triple Double.
In news, if you want to have the chance to win an award, not only do you have to fork over a boatload of money, but you have to do a lot of prep work to submit the stories to even have a chance. If no stories are submitted, there is absolutely NO chance of winning anything.
The deadline for the 2009 Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards has come and gone. 5pm Tuesday was the deadline. I usually do submit entries for this awards program. Being the organized person I am, I have entries submitted way in advance.
This year, it was quite the cluster.
Life has become so complex taking up any glimmer of what we once knew as free time.
Work, as well, leaves no time for anything out of the ordinary, including award preps.
But there are so many other outside conditions that make it a nuisance to pursue that lofty pipe dream...road blocks that are completely out of my control.
The $$$$ involved can be absolutely impossible to come up with (for those of us working pay check to pay check). The Press Club fees are reasonable. The membership fees range from $25 to $90 a year. If you are a member, then it only costs $20.00 per entry to submit. If you are not a member, the fee per entry raises up to $30.00.
Because of these fees, oftentimes, everyone involved does NOT want to participate. Sometimes it's hard to remember those who had a hand in the story....God forbid, if you forget to include someone, you could hear about it for the rest of your life if you win (trust me, I'm still living in that hell from many years ago!!!).
Because we were up against the wall running out of time and there were people on vacation and off, I put the names down of everyone I could remember for the stories we submitted (hoping I got everyone) and paid for everyone, in hopes that I'd get reimbursed?!?!?!? Time will tell!!!!!!
Another stumbling block--oftentimes during my shift, we only have one editor. I, in good conscience, can not find myself asking for help making dubs in a department of one. I would never put a show in jeopardy or our product at risk for an award!
There is yet another problem which heavily hinders this process. Finding the video. With a stellar show or story, it's better to have a copy of the actual show tape to submit. The show tape includes segments of the show with the anchor lead in, reporter live shot, anchor-reporter interaction, and then possibly a reporter live tag. You get the idea. The whole story! These show tapes, ideally, are recycled weekly meaning you have one week to make your dubs.
Good luck! These show tapes FLY off the shelves like they were going out of style. I can never find them. And on occasion, the show is not even recorded or rolled on which means you got 'nothin.'
This year, I started out with a list of thirteen possible story submissions. I had ONE copy from an actual show tape which I had dubbed off. No luck on any of the other ones throughout the year.
After going back into the archive bank and trying to find the stories on tape --a possible package or vo-sot, I narrowed down the possible submissions to 4 stories.
I never knew we had access to the 4th one until it was too late for the Press Club Awards. So we managed to scrape together in less than 24 hours, 3 submissions.
Honestly, I was about to give up totally on entering anything...but that underlying drive gets you every time. I am not as gung ho as some on this whole award phenomenon. There are some addicted and totally consumed. Thank goodness that is not me. That said, IF I believe I initiated great story coverage and there is a good chance of that story winning, I like taking a stab at the opportunity.
So, being the 'over achiever' I've been called, I was able to get a few dubs made....and then worked at my home computer until 530am the morning of the deadline filling out the paperwork...getting all of our ducks in a row! Thankfully, these awards needed to be dropped off right down the street from my office. I came in a few minutes early, walked down, and dropped them off with a few hours to spare!!!!
The deadline to get the second monkey off my back is fastly approaching.
Emmy entries are due in about a week. Because the fees for Emmy Awards are quite steep, I have to be honest, I have no idea if I can swing it.
You have to become a member, which costs money. If you are NOT a member of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences --Lower Great Lakes Chapter, the fee to enter anything is $145.00 per name on the entry.
As you can see, much more expensive. There will be a few more days of mulling over whether it is really worth it and whether the few stories we have are worth making the investment.
Once the decision is made, then the whole process begins--finding people to make a few dubs....filling out all of the paperwork and submitting the stories! These have to be done in advance because they must be sent through the mail.
Usually, with Emmy Awards, fewer people enter due to the high fees.....but again, you try not to omit anyone and afford each person involved the opportunity.
As I said at the beginning....awards can be very satisfying acknowledgements of a job well done.....yet at the same time, a HUGE PAIN IN THE BUTT!!!!!!
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