SIPAwards Brings New Profile to Respected Program
Usually in this space on Mondays you’ll read profiles of SIPA members across the globe. But for today’s Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday in the U.S., we want to present a profile of a different sort. The SIPAwards represents another element of a new era for the association, where SIPA better reflects the industry-shaking changes taking place and the exceptional work being done by members to adapt to these changes.
A special awards committee met a few months ago to determine which categories to keep and which to add in order to reflect this new landscape. They came up with the following 16 categories:
Best Marketing Team of the Year (the Margie Weiner Award)
Best Marketing Campaign of the Year
Best Use of Social Media
Best Editorial and Marketing Collaboration
Rising Star of the Year
Best Investigative Reporting (the David Swit Award)
Best Spot News or Single News Story
Best Interpretative or Analytical Reporting
Best Instructional Reporting
Best Scientific Writing or Technical Reporting
Best One-Topic Special Publication
Best Blog or Commentary (submit 3 posts/columns)
Best Use of Video (marketing or content)
Most Improved Publication (submit one sample from 2010 and one from 2011)
Best Online Community
Best New or Relaunched Website
Investigative Reporting, where SIPA members still excel, was retained. Last year’s winner was Laura Mahoney of BNA Inc’s BNA Daily Tax Report. She uncovered how contributions played a role in four high-profile cases of the California State Board of Equalization. (This award has been named in honor of the late David Swit.) Also retained was Instructional Reporting. Cynthia Gomez, of Wiley won first place last year for her article in Campus Security Report: titled “When Crisis Strikes Overseas.” She told what happens when overseas crises strike, covering what security officials should do and how to advise students to stay safe. Also kept was Interpretive or Analytical Reporting. Ellen Smith and Kathy Snyder of Legal Publication Services – Mine Safety and Health News won for their analysis of the tragic explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia.
New additions to the SIPAwards include Best Use of Social Media, Best Editorial and Marketing Collaboration, Best Blog or Commentary (submit 3 posts/columns) and Best Use of Video (marketing or content). (Another new award, Best Marketing Team of the Year, will be called the the Margie Weiner Award.) Award winners for SIPA have always shone under the highest light, and these will be no different. The idea remains to reward the best of the best and then provide others inside the association with new thoughts and concepts.
Brochures have been mailed and are now posted on the new SIPA website. You must be a SIPA member to enter. (You can find membership information on the SIPA site as well.) The entry deadline is March 2, so that’s plenty of time for you to gather your best work to submit. Winners will be celebrated at the International Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., May 20-22—and be given the prestige that comes from winning a major award from a leading association. First, second and third-place awards will still be handed out. An esteemed panel of judges will determine the winners.
The SIPAwards may not—yet—have the glamour of last night’s Golden Globes. But the four words that we use with the new logo—Excellence. Recognition. Respect. Success—tell you that we are very serious in imbuing this competition with the highest quality in this industry.
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Speaking of new staples for the association…
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