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Our communications committee is sponsoring a chapter newsletter contest this summer for the first time.
Communications are vital to the success of a membership organization. To get and retain members an organization must make the public aware of their mission and their events. Members too must have a way to stay in the loop to carry out the mission.
Chapter communications include a mix of various media, including websites, social media, and forums, in addition to newsletters. All of these can be essential elements of a successful chapter communication program. However, we are limiting our competition to newsletters and “newsletter-like” publications. In future years the award may evolve based on feedback resulting from the contest. We hope the contest will reward chapters for making the extra effort at communications as well as providing models for best practices and successful strategies.
What is included in the contest? Most, if not all, chapter newsletters are delivered primarily by email. It can be a pdf that is attached to an email or linked from an email. It may also be in html format or in another electronic file format. A newsletter created using desktop publishing software (such as Publisher) and saved in a pdf format would qualify for this contest. A newsletter created in an html format using email software (such as MailChimp) would also qualify. In either case we require an archived file that can be read or downloaded. It should be accessible with common devices and operating software. In order to be eligible the publication must be made available freely to all members of a chapter. If there is any question about whether an item will be considered a newsletter for the purpose of this contest please provide a sample for us to see.
How to enter the contest? In order to prevent duplicate entries we ask that only the chapter president or a designated representative submit entries. The president or another member of the chapter should select the three best issues of the publication. All the selected issues must have been published between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2019. Send an email to communications-contest@npsot.org that contains links to all the issues selected. Entries must be received before August 1.
How is the winner determined? A panel of judges will use a scoresheet to evaluate the newsletters on writing quality, aesthetics, photography, content relevance, accessibility, originality and other qualities. Each judge will record a score for the chapter publication based on all submitted issues. Scores from all the judges will be totaled and the chapter publication which scores the highest will be recognized during the awards banquet at our fall symposium in League City. Honorable mentions may be given to chapters with high scores in particular categories.
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**ARCHIVED POST AUTHOR: Bill Hopkins
