October 29, 2019
The Outdoor Writers Association of America annually honors the best-of-the-best in outdoor journalism through its Excellence In Craft Contest.
The entry process for the 2020 EIC Contest begins Nov. 1, 2019 and will be managed this year through a partnership with Submittable, an OWAA Supporting Group that specializes in contest submissions. The platform was used to manage the Photo Scavenger Hunt at this summer’s OWAA Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas.
EIC is open to all OWAA members and will reward first-, second- and third-place winners in 10 media categories: Blog, Book, Column, Graphic/Illustration, Magazine/E-zine, Newspaper/News Website, Photography, Photo Essay, Radio/Podcast, and TV/Video/Webcast.
Award winners will be announced at the OWAA annual conference June 27-29, 2020, at Jay Peak Resort in Vermont.
Entries for all contests except Book must have been published (traditional media or the internet), broadcast, or sold between Jan. 1, 2019 and Dec. 31, 2019. Book entries must have been published between Dec. 1, 2017 and Nov. 30, 2019.
Both digital and mail-in entries are allowed.
The entry fee is $10 per digital online entry, $20 for mail-in entries (except Books, which are $10).
Members are required to pay their 2020 dues before submitting entries.
Entry deadlines
The entry deadline is Jan. 10, 2020 for all contests except the Book Contest.
Due to the increased judging time, Book entries must be postmarked no later than Dec. 1, 2019, and should include three copies mailed to OWAA Book Contest, 1816 Romane Dr., Fort Wayne, IN, 46808.
Entries in Blog, Column, Graphic/Illustration, Magazine/E-zine, Newspaper/News Website, Photography, Photo Essay, Radio/Podcast, and TV/Video/Webcast submitted after Jan. 10, 2020 will be charged an additional $5 late fee with a final submission deadline of Jan. 31, 2020.
Book Contest entries postmarked after Dec. 1, 2019 and entries in all other contests submitted or postmarked after Jan. 31, 2020 will be disqualified.
Online entries
The online entry process is similar to previous years but uses the Submittable platform, which allows for additional submission format options in most categories.
For instance, TV/Video/Webcast can be submitted as a link or as MP4, MOV and other file formats. Radio/Podcast also allows for MP3, WAV, etc.
To begin submitting entries, go to https://owaa.submittable.com to create a FREE Submittable account, which allows you access to EIC entry forms and to take advantage of other opportunities with Submittable.
If you have any questions on how to create a Submittable account, go to https://submittable.help/en/articles/904856-how-do-i-submit.
Each contest – Blog, Book, Column, Graphic/Illustration, Magazine/E-zine, Newspaper/News Website, Photography, Photo Essay, Radio/Podcast, and TV/Video/Webcast – has its own entry form.
Although Book entries must be mailed in, the entry information should be recorded on Submittable’s Book Contest form for judging purposes.
Mail-In entries
Mail-in entries other than the Book Contest must be sent to OWAA EIC Contest, 21565 Nine Mile Road, Huson, MT, 59846.
Entry fee options
Payment includes two options – credit card (including PayPal) or check.
If you want to use PayPal, a link will appear when you mark the Credit Card circle.
All payments are tied to the specific contest being entered, so you can only process Blog entry fees in the Blog form, Column entry fees in the Column form, and so on.
In other words, while you can make one payment for multiple Blog entries, the system currently doesn’t allow bundling entries from multiple contests into a single payment.
The credit card fee is deducted from the final charge.
For those members entering more than one contest, a simpler option may be to pay for all entries with a single check. Just click the Check circle on the payment line of each form, tally your entry fee total for all contests you are entering, and mail the check to OWAA EIC, 2814 Brooks St., Box 442, Missoula, MT, 59801.
Judging
The partnership with Submittable also will bring a change for the dozens of volunteers who help judge the EIC Contest.
Instead of OWAA headquarters having to send entries and scoring materials to the judges, they will log on to Submittable, which will allow them to view and score the entries assigned to them.
Judging will be complete by April 1, after which the winners will be notified and invited to attend the EIC Awards June 28 at Jay Peak Resort in Vermont to be recognized for their achievement.
Questions
If you encounter problems or have questions with the EIC entry process, email info@owaa.org or Submittable’s help desk at support@submittable.com