MPC/Siemens Award for Student Journalism Entry Criteria

  1. The Siemens Award for Student Journalism has been established to promote and recognise excellence in Victorian student journalism. Accordingly entry is restricted to entries determined by the judges to have a sufficient connection with Victoria. In general, therefore, entry is restricted to students resident in, or studying in Victoria, at a recognised Victorian Educational Institution.
  2. Each entry must have been first published or broadcast in Victoria in a recognised publication, during the period from 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011.
  3. The entrant must be enrolled as a student at the time of the publication or broadcast.
  4. Entries must be submitted by no later than 5pm on Friday 7 October 2011.
  5. Each entry must comply with the MEAA Code of Ethics and must declare any subsequent formal corrections, claims for plagiarism, or any other legal proceedings commenced in relation to the entry.
  6. Each entrant must certify that the entry is the entrant's original work.
  7. Each entrant may submit no more than one entry, either individually or as part of a collaboration.
  8. The judges reserve the right to reject an entry that in their opinion does not comply with the requirements of the award, without giving any reason therefore.
  9. The Melbourne Press Club reserves the right to utilise and reproduce all entries submitted for the purposes of promoting the award.
  10. The judges' decision is final. Entries will not be returned and entrants should keep copies of the work submitted.
  11. Each entrant must in respect of each entry nominate one article, broadcast, or pictorial item as the primary item sort to be considered by the judges. Where the primary item forms part of a series or a package, up to two further associated items may be submitted by the entrant, to provide necessary context. If this condition is not strictly adhered to the judges may in their discretion either
    • select one item from those submitted by the entrant as the primary item, or
    • exclude the entry from consideration.
  12. In judging entries, the judges will utilise an appropriate combination of the judging criteria utilised for the Quill Awards (refer to the Melbourne Press Club website for details), but emphasising the characteristics of originality, impact, quality, and initiative.
  13. Entry forms must be accompanied by four tear sheets (or photocopies) of the published work, and if possible a pdf of the page (in the case of print entries). In the case of broadcast entries, CDs and DVDs are required, preferably with a transcript of the broadcast. A jpeg photograph of the entrant is also required.
  14. The winner will be announced at a Melbourne Press Club function in November 2011.  All entrants will be notified.
  15. The prize is $2000 cash plus two free tickets to the Melbourne Press Club 2011 Quill Awards for Excellence, to be held on 23 March 2012. The Melbourne Press Club also has agreed to organise one week's work experience for the winner at a major Melbourne media organisation.
  16. The singular term "entrant" is used in these entry criteria, but is considered to include the plural - that is, joint entries are permitted where two or more students have collaborated in compiling the item entered. In the event that a joint entry is judged to be the winning entry, however, the winners will need to agree among themselves as to the division of the prize, and must nominate in the entry form the proposed recipient of the period of work experience.