District Bulletin Editor of the Year (BETY) contest
GENERAL GUIDELINES
PurposeThe purpose of the Bulletin Editor of the Year (BETY) contest is to promote better communication through chapter bulletins. Each judge is enjoined to provide a written critique to each editor judged.
Conduct
BETY contests should be conducted in the same manner as the International Bulletin Contest (IBC), so that all entrants in the IBC meet eligibility requirements. See IBC general guidelines for conduct of the IBC. A district contest chairman may depart from the IBC rules, for example allowing bi-monthlies or entries for which insufficient issues have been published, but if so that should be announced well in advance of the contests with particulars given, and editors of those entries should be made aware that although their entries are eligible for the BETY, they are not eligible for the IBC.
Scoring
It is recommended that scoring in BETY contests be done as it is in the IBC, in three categories, as follows:
- Content 800 points;
- Layout and Reproduction L&R), 600 points;
- Grammar and Style (G&S), 600 points
Each issue is allocated one-third of the points: 267 for Content, 200 for L&R, 200 for G&S. Certified judges will be provided by the PROBE vice president for bulletin editors (VP-BE). Judges’ scores may be changed by district contest chairmen or international bulletin contest chairman to correct arithmetic errors only.
Administration
In October of each year, each district president should see that a chairman for the coming BETY is appointed or reappointed. The VP-BE will assign judges in plenty of time, and will also identify the chairman of the next IBC, providing his name, address, and phone number. He will enclose a copy of these BETY guidelines. District contest chairmen are encouraged to provide each chapter editor in his respective district with a copy of this form. All expenses of administering BETY contests are the responsibility of the districts. This includes mailing bulletins to judges and providing judges with sufficient postage for return of the marked bulletins. When materials are to be posted between the USA and Canada, cash should be provided instead of postage.
Schedule and Publicity
BETY contests will take place at the beginning of each calendar year and shall cover bulletins published during the previous calendar year. Notice of the coming BETY contests should be published in the district bulletin in time for editors to enter the contest, and should include the name, address, and phone number of the district contest chairman. Unless there are very good reasons otherwise, the deadline for the district contest chairman to receive bulletins should be January 1. The district contest chairmen should send the bulletins to the judges assigned as soon after January 1 as feasible, and should notify the judges of the date the judged bulletins must be returned in order to announce BETY winners at the districts’ spring preliminaries. If a district contest chairman fails to provide a due date, the judges will use March 15 as the date to have the judged bulletins, score sheets and critiques to the district contest chairman.
Eligibility
In order to qualify for the IBC, editors must have published at least eight issues of a monthly bulletin during the contest year, or eight months of bulletins on a weekly or biweekly schedule. See “Conduct” above.
Submission of bulletins
Editors of monthly bulletins shall submit for judging three copies of each of three consecutive issues published during the year. One copy of each issue must be an off-the-press copy (for the L&R judge); the other two may be photocopies. For weeklies, submit 12 consecutive issues, the first four together, the second four together, and the third four together. For biweeklies, submit nine consecutive issues, the first three together, the second three together, and the third three together. Should an editor wish to have score and critique, but his score not be published, he should clearly state that to the district contest chairman.
Judging
BETY contests are judged by a single panel of judges, with one judge assigned to each category. Judges will use the same PROBE category judging forms as are used in the IBC.
Ranking contestants
District contest chairmen shall tabulate scores from the judges’ score sheets and determine the final rankings, sending copies to the VP-BE and each judge. In case of ties, the tie will be broken by the Content score. If a tie still exists, the Grammar & Style score will be used as the tie breaker.
Announcing contest results
The top winners of a BETY contest should be announced at the district spring convention, and an appropriate article should be published in the district bulletin. Scores need not be published, and the wishes of editors not wanting scores to be published should be honored.
REV 5/99
