Golden Gator Awards
News Releases
Downloads
Category Description
The Golden Gator will be awarded to recognize outstanding news writing produced to promote the University of Florida and its programs to external media outlets. The award is meant to recognize a news unit's body of work, so please apply as a team. Data including the news hits of each release is helpful and should be included when possible, but judges will give the most weight to the quality of writing displayed in each release (see Judging below).
Entry Instructions
- Submit a completed entry form, including the names of each news release writer in your unit.
- Submit an abstract (no more than three pages)
- Submit three to five representative examples of staff-written news releases targeted to external media. If sending clippings, do not send more than five representative news clippings per story.
- All entries must have been produced and/or published between November 1, 2007 to November 30, 2008.
- Email your abstract, a 50-word summary of your entry and a JPG or TIF image that represents your entry as instructed on the entry form.
Judging Panel Guidelines
The judges will review all entries and score them based on the categories below. The total maximum points a judge can assign an entry in this category is 100 points. Judges will take into account the abstract submitted, including budget considerations.
- Provides detailed and thoughtful answers on the abstract (10)
- Engages the reader through creative, compelling writing (25)
- Displays clarity of writing and reflects superior organization and editing (25)
- Shows scope and variety in story selection (10)
- Elicits results/response (15)
- Demonstrates an understanding of the target audience (10)
- Shows creative use of available resources (5)