6th annual IT Journalism Awards now open for submissions
Nominations are now officially open for the 6th annual Sun Microsystems IT Journalism Awards, which will be held on the 11th of April at Star City Casino.
The Technology Journalist of the Year and the Technology Title of the Year at the 6th Annual Sun Microsystems IT Journalism Awards will each win a $1,000 cash prize, in addition to taking home the coveted Gold Lizzy.
Nominations for the 6th Annual Sun Microsystems IT Journalism Awards are open, with entries closing on the 31st of January 2008. All journalists that enter individual awards will receive a free ticket to the gala dinner, held on Friday, 11th April in the grand ballroom at Star City, Sydney. All other tickets will be on sale in February.
All winners will take home a Lizzy, an original, bronze cast of an Australian frilled neck lizard mounted on an Australian hardwood base.
MediaConnect CEO Phil Sim thanked foundation sponsor Sun Microsystems for its ongoing support of the awards.
"The Sun Microsystems IT Journalism Awards have firmly established themselves as the highest accolade in technology journalism and the list of past winners reads like a who's who of IT journalism doyens. "
"We greatly appreciate the support of our sponsors, including Sun Microsystems, who helped us get this event off the ground and continue to lend their support year after year," Sim said.
The awards are open to Australian and New Zealand media companies and journalists, and the 6th annual awards will consider all articles published with a cover date from December 2006 to the end of December 2007.
This year's awards will be judged in a slightly different fashion to past awards. No preliminary judging panel will be used to shortlist entries down to a subset of finalists.
This means that all nominations will be judged by the final expert judging panel, made up of former and current technology journalists with experience and knowledge in their respective categories. All nominated journalists will be invited to attend the awards as guests of Sun Microsystems and our other sponsors.
Full details on the criteria and how to enter can be found at www.thelizzies.com or contact jennifer@mediaconnect.com.au if you have any questions regarding the event.
The categories for the 6th Annual Sun Microsystems IT Journalism Awards are as follows:
Best Article
The Best Technology Article award will recognise a single article for its impact, value and quality. Please note, only one submission from each journalist.
Best Business Journalist
The Best Business Technology Journalist will award the journalist whose writing is the most effective in meeting the information needs of CIOs and IT and/or business managers by effectively conveying relevant technology issues in business terms.
Best Business Technology Title
The Best Business Technology Title award will recognise the magazine, newspaper, website or combination of mediums that is most successful in serving the information needs of CIOs and IT and/or business managers, effectively conveying relevant technology issues in business terms.
Best Columnist
The Best Technology Columnist recognises the columnist whose opinion pieces surrounding technology issues have most effectively entertained, informed or provoked thought.
Best Communications Journalist
The Best Communications Journalist will award the journalist whose writing is the most effective in meeting the information needs of communications managers and executives, effectively investigating and exploring important telecommunications and networking issues and companies.
Best Consumer Journalist
The Helen Dancer Best Consumer Technology Journalist trophy will award the journalist whose writing is the most effective in meeting the information needs of a non-technical audience, effectively explaining how technology is relevant and can be used by the consumer market.
Best Gaming Journalist
The Best Gaming Journalist will award the journalist whose writing is the most effective in meeting the information needs of the gaming community.
Best Gaming Title
The Best Gaming Title award will recognise the magazine, newspaper, website or combination of mediums that is most successful in serving the community of gamers and/or the gaming industry.
Best Industry Journalist
The Best Industry Journalist will award the journalist whose writing is the most effective in meeting the information needs of IT industry executives and investors, effectively investigating and covering IT companies and the issues that relate to those companies and their investors.
Best Industry Title
The Best Technology Industry Title award will recognise the title that has best covered IT and/or telecommunications industry news and issues, effectively investigating and covering IT companies and the issues that relate to those companies and their investors.
Best Media Website
The Best Technology Media Website award will honour the service that best uses the medium of online to serve the information needs of its readers.
Best Multimedia Coverage
This award will recognise excellence in covering technology via audio and video mediums, through television, radio, podcasts, webcasts, and so forth. This award can be entered by both individuals or titles can submit a collective entry.
Best New Journalist
The Alicia Camphuisen Best New Technology Journalist recognises the journalist with less than 18 months experience as a technology journalist, and less than three years experience as a professional journalist. This award recognises the journalist who has demonstrated the most outstanding writing skills and the ability to best meet their reader’s information needs.
Best New Title
Best New Technology Title award will recognise the best print title, website and/or newsletter launched within the last 18 months which best meets the reader's information needs.
Best News Journalist
The Cass Warneminde Best News Journalist. Not open for submissions. Winners are based on aggregated points scored in the Sun Microsystems News Agenda awards conducted during 2007.
Best News Title
Not open for submissions. Winners are based on aggregated points scored in the Sun Microsystems News Agenda awards conducted during 2007.
Best Personal Title
The Best Personal Technology Title award will recognise the magazine, newspaper, website or combination of mediums that is most successful in serving users of personal technologies, including home technologies, personal computers, lifestyle technologies and gadgets.
Best Production Team
The Best Production Team award will recognise the ability of a print production team including sub-editors, editors, graphic artists or designers to enhance a raw copy through photography, illustrations, headlines, graphics, use of colour, design and layout, captions and box out illustrations. The award will be given to the print production team, who have been the most successful in using graphical elements and page/website layout to enhance the power and communication abilities of a newspaper, magazine or website.
Best Reviewer
The Best Technology Reviewer recognises the journalist who has best used the product review format to provide information that assists users in the technology buying
process.
Best Technical Journalist
The Best Technical Journalist will award the journalist whose writing is the most effective in meeting the information needs of a technical audience, effectively explaining how technology is developing or how it can be better used or implemented.
Journalist of the Year
Not open for submissions. Winners are based on the highest overall score in a category, subject to review from the final judging panel.
Technology Title of the Year
Not open for submissions. Winners are based on the highest overall score in a category, subject to review from the final judging panel.
How to enter:
Publications
1. Entries for publication awards must all be in hard copy and include two copies of three separate issues.
2. Issues with cover dates between Dec 2006/Jan 2007 to Dec 2007/Jan 2008.
3. Please clearly mark all hard copy submissions with "IT Journalism Awards" and include a cover note of up to 300 words detailing the merits of the entry
4. Send to MediaConnect, 104/8 Century Cct, Norwest central, Baulkham Hills, NSW, 2153.
Individuals
1. We will only be accepting individual awards entries electronically.
2. Articles must have been published in issues with cover dates between Dec 2006/Jan 2007 to Dec 2007/Jan 2008.
3. For each submission, please send either a) 3 articles (no maximum word count) OR b) up to five articles with a total word count no more than 4000 words.
4. Please email them to the dedicated address of nominate@mediaconnect.com.au.
5. Email entries can be in Word, PDF or Rich Text format. We will also accept weblinks in a single document. (Please note the links need to remain active until the end of March 2008).
6. Include a cover note of up to 300 words explaining the merits of the entry.
7. Please include the date and the name of the publication the article appeared in.
Note: shared by-line articles will not be accepted
Multimedia and websites
1. Submissions can include websites, audio and video, television, radio, podcasts, webcasts, and so forth and will be accepted as links, files or on CD.
2. Please post 3 copies of your CD or DVD submissions to MediaConnect, 104/8 Century Cct, Norwest central, Baulkham Hills, NSW, 2153 or email files or links to nominate@mediaconnect.com.au.
3. In both cases please provide a cover note of up to 300 words explaining the merits of the entry.