International Bulletin Contest (IBC)
General IBC Guidelines

Purpose

The purpose of the International Bulletin Contest is to promote better communication within our Society. All chapters are encouraged to produce a bulletin (Hard Copy and / or Online); districts are encouraged to give recognition to their chapter editors.

Administration

An IBC chairman shall be appointed by the PROBE president not later than November 15 of the year preceding the contest. The PROBE VP-BE shall appoint two sub-chairmen, one for the Hard Copy Category and one for the Online Category.

The Hard Copy sub-chairmen will appoint a panel of nine certified judges, three from each category.

The Online Category sub-chairman will appoint eight judges. Two per category (or as available, first year only).

The IBC sub-chairmen shall provide each judge with a copy of these IBC general guidelines, along with necessary category score sheets and the hard copy bulletins (HC Category) or URLs (Online Category) to be judged.

These guidelines are for the charter year of the Online IBC, may be subject to change there after as needed and approved by the PROBE Board of Directors.

Publicity

The VP-BE shall send a news release containing information about the IBC, including the chairman's name, address, and phone number, to the PROBEmoter editor, The Harmonizer, LiveWire, PROBEmail, The Harmonet, Special Email Lists and District Bulletin Editors in time for publication in the fall issues. He shall also address a letter with this information to all bulletin contest chairmen. A copy of these guidelines shall accompany those letters.

Eligibility

Editors can enter both contests. All entrants must be paid up members of PROBE.

Hard Copy Category

Each district shall be eligible to submit two entries. The bulletin issues submitted may be the same issues that were submitted for the district BETY contest, although they must be different copies, bearing no markings from a judge in the BETY contest. Each district contest chairman shall certify that each entrant has published at least eight issues of a monthly bulletin during the contest (calendar) year, or eight months of bulletins published on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Each district contest chairman shall also submit a copy of his district BETY scoring summary to the IBC chairman as verification that a district contest was held and that his entrants did, in fact, qualify for the IBC.

Online Category

This will be an open contest. No pre-qualifying contest by district will be necessary. The editor will submit an entry form stating he has produced at least 6 issues online during the contest (calendar) year. Entries done by a professional web page designer will not be eligible if the designer is reimbursed in any way including a fee or an advertisement in the submitted issue. That entry will be subject to disqualification as determined by the chairman of judges in advance of the contest.

Submission of bulletins

Hard Copy Category

For monthly bulletins, three copies of each of three consecutive issues published during the year are to be submitted. One copy of each issue must be an off-the-press copy (for L&R judges), but the other two may be photocopies. For weeklies, 12 consecutive issues are required, the first four together, the second four together, and the third four together. For biweeklies, nine consecutive issues are required, the first three together, the second three together, and the third three together. Bulletins and verifying materials must reach the IBC chairman by April 1. (District contest chairmen should not hold up the entries pending announcement of winners at district conventions--our judges can keep a secret!)

Online Category

The editor will email a copy of the entry form (available via the PROBE website) with the three URL's of his issues (they may be HTML or PDF files). Entries must be accessible via the Internet. Hard copies or copies on CDs will NOT be accepted. They must be consecutive issues. Deadline is April first to the IBC Chairman who will forward the entry to the co-chairman who will distribute to the assigned judges.

Judging

Hard Copy Category

Each member of the triple panel of judges shall judge one issue of the three submitted for each category. The IBC chairman shall determine which issue shall be judged by each judge. Scoring in the Hard Copy IBC will be done in three categories, as follows:

Content, 800 points;
Layout and Reproduction (L&R), 600 points;
Grammar and Style (G&S), 600 points
--total 2,000 points.

Each issue is allocated one-third of the points: 267 for Content, 200 for L&R, 200 for G&S.

Online Category

Each member of the double panel will judge each entry. Scoring in the Online IBC will be done in four categories, as follows:

Design & Graphics (D&G) - 800 points
Content (C) - 700 Points
Accessibility & Functionality (A&F) - 300 points
Grammar & Style (G&S) - 200 points
-- total 2,000 points

Each issue is allocated one-third of the points:
267 for D&G, 233 for Content, 100 for A&F, 66 for G&S.

The scores of the two judges in each category will be averaged together to become the score for that category.

Reporting the Scores

Judges shall return all entries, completed judging forms, a scoring summary, and critiques (optional) to the IBC chairman by June 1. All mailings between judges and the IBC Chairman shall be at PROBE expense. The co-chairmen shall tabulate scores from the judges' score sheets and shall determine the final ranking of all entries.

Hard Copy Category

In case of ties, the Content score will break the tie. If a tie still exists, the Grammar & Style score will be used as the tiebreaker.

Online Category

In case of ties, the Design & Graphics score will break the tie. If a tie still exists, the Content score will be used as the tiebreaker.

Announcing the Winners

Winners will be announced at the annual PROBE meeting at the international convention, and awards will be made to those present. Awards for those not present will be forwarded to the appropriate district representative for later presentation at a district function at which the winner can be properly recognized. The IBC chairman will provide the results to the PROBE President & PROBE VP BE in advance of the announcement of the winners. The IBC Chairman will also distribute the results to all possible communication outlets:

Int'l Convention Bulletin Editor (in advance of the Int'l Convention),

Hard Copy Category

The first place winner will receive a traveling trophy and a personal plaque. Second and third place winners will receive a personal plaque only. Certificates of participation will be sent to the districts for presentation to all entrants.

Online Category

The First Place winner will receive a traveling trophy and a personal plaque. Second & Third place winners will receive plaques. Fourth and Fifth place winners will receive certificates only. The top five winners will be sent an icon to display on their web page showing their place and year. All entrants will be sent an icon showing they entered.

Returning the Bulletins

Hard Copy Category

Judged bulletins, with judges' critiques (optional) and score sheets, with a copy of the scores for the entire contest for each editor, shall be sent by the IBC co-chairman to the category specialists who shall send the packages to the district contest coordinators who shall send the packets to the editors.

Online Category

The IBC Co-Chairman will email the Score Sheets with judges' critiques (optional) to the category specialists and the entrants.

Winners' Further Eligibility

Hard Copy Category

An IBC Hard Copy Category winner shall not again be eligible to participate in competition at the international level for two years. This in no way constitutes prohibition of his competing at the district level. The PROBE Secretary/Treasurer will certify each editor is a paid member of PROBE. If not, the IBC Chairman will contact the editor and ask him to send in his dues money to PROBE Secretary/Treasurer.

Online Category

An IBC Online Category winner shall not again be eligible to participate in competition at the international level for ONE year. This in no way constitutes prohibition of his competing at the district level when one is established in the future. Judges of this category who wish to enter their online publication may do so for critique only and will receive no score or placement. The PROBE Secretary/Treasurer will certify each editor is a paid member of PROBE. If not, the IBC Chairman will contact the editor and ask him to send in his dues money to PROBE Secretary/Treasurer.

Critiques

Since editors will have been critiqued by district BETY judges, further critiques by IBC judges are optional. Online IBC critiques are also optional.

Rev 1/18

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