Deadline

The deadline for entries is April 15, 2013, 11:59, Eastern Time.

Applicants must:

• •Be currently enrolled full-time in an accredited four-year college or university in the U.S. or Canada or have been accepted at a four-year institution to complete suspended studies.
• •Provide evidence of an aptitude for photojournalism as well as academic ability and financial need.
• •Provide grade point average as an indication that applicant can successfully complete college studies.
• Explain financial need.
• •Use the scholarship at the beginning of the next semester. Otherwise, it will be forfeited and awarded to an alternate candidate.

•A letter of recommendation from your advisor is required.  The letter should be emailed directly to the scholarship chairperson.

Organizing your Portfolio Materials

Entries may be single photographs, multiple picture stories or multimedia stories including video stories. You must have a minimum of six entries with a maximum of 12 entries. The total number of entries may be any combination of single photographs, multiple picture stories, multimedia stories or video stories.

Multiple picture stories have a minimum of two pictures and a maximum of 10 pictures. A multiple picture story, though it has more than one picture, counts as a single entry of the minimum required six entries.

All multimedia entries, including videos, are supplied as links to where they live on the Internet. The URL links must take the judges directly to the video or other form of multimedia, not to a personal home page where judges must select other menu items or links to get to the story. Popular places for videos are YouTube or Vimeo for stand alone videos outside of a news website such a student media site. Any Internet URL is fine as long as it takes judges directly to the story.

Note that the judges unanimously feel that portfolios that do not include at least one multimedia entry will not be competitive. Multimedia is defined as video and/or photos combined with edited audio, in any format, slide shows and interactive pieces. A multimedia story with only a music track doesn’t count. You must have originally gathered sound that helps tell the story.

What do I Need Before Entering?

You will need your faculty advisor’s contact information: name, phone and e-­‐mail. Contact your faculty advisor and request a recommendation. That recommendation is sent directly from your advisor but your application is not complete without it. The contest coordinator will acknowledge receipt of the recommendation to the faculty advisor sending it. See the FAQ section for the contest coordinator’s contact information. Stay in contact with your advisor to make sure the recommendation was received.

There are three short essays you may wish to prepare ahead of entering so that you can copy and paste the text into the boxes provided. These items are:

• •List your academic and journalistic accomplishments.
• •Explain your need for a scholarship. Be specific.
• •Briefly state your goals in visual journalism.

You will need to know your overall GPA and the point system it is based on. For example, your entry might be “3.5 on a 4-­‐point system.“ You will also need your GPA of courses within your major.

You will need a screen snap of your multimedia entries, which will be used to create a thumbnail for your entry. Both Windows and Macs allow this. Click on your desktop and use the “Help” menu to search for “screen snap” or “screen grab.” For Macs:

To take a picture of part of your screen:

•Press [command]+[shift]+[4]     (depending on your keyboard, the Command key may have a cloverleaf or apple on it instead of the word ‘command’.)

Click at a corner of the area you want to capture, drag the pointer across the area, and release the mouse button.

Use image editing software to convert the PNG format screen grab to a JPG format.

Organize your multiple picture stories into their own folders. Organize your stills into a folder.

Open direct links to your multimedia entries in browser windows so that the URL may be copied and pasted into the entry form. This will prevent typos.

Preparing Pictures

Each picture should be less than 2 MB in size, and at least 700 pixels on the long side (1350-­‐2700 pixels at 72 DPI preferred). The system will automatically create smaller thumbnails. All pictures must be in the jpg format.

Preparing Video Stories or other Multimedia Stories

All stories must be available for viewing on the internet and have a public link to them. In the entry form there will be places to enter a URL and to describe your role in the story since many multimedia stories are produced by a team. If the storie is not already on a news site, Youtube or Vimeo are popular places to link to a story.

How to Enter

Note. The call for entries is in January of each year. There will be a notice on this website when applications are open.

Go to https://nppa.org/civicrm/event/info?id=21&reset=1 to enter. If you are not already a member of NPPA, you must create a login. Membership is not required to enter or create a login. If you are already a student member of NPPA, login with your membership login.

The entry system is straightforward. Once you complete the personal information on the opening page, you will be able to enter your portfolio entries. You will need a thumbnail jpg image for your multimedia entries. A screen snap will work for the thumbnail. Once the first entry for a multiple picture story is entered, other pictures are entered one at a time. The thumbnails will appear as a group and may be reordered after all pictures are entered. Don’t forget to enter captions. Be prepared to describe your role in multimedia entries as they are often produced by a team.

Once you have created an account, you will see this:

You will go to your “My Account” page and click the “Submit Work” button below the Scholarship link at the right. Click on any of the links under NPPF Scholarships on the contest page.

Once you have made six entries, you may continue on to the maximum of 12 or simply close your browser. There is no button to click to exit; just close your browser. You may edit later. See the FAQ section below.

FAQ

I am a high school student who will be attending college next fall. Can I enter?

No. The competition is for continuing college students. You will be eligible to enter in the spring term of your first college year. If successful, your scholarship would apply to the sophomore year.

I will graduate in May. Can I still enter?

No. Not unless you are a continuing graduate student. We do have one scholarship that is specifically for a continuing graduate student and two others that may be awarded to a graduate student. For undergraduate students, you must have a minimum of one term or semester to complete after this spring. Likewise, graduate students must also have at least one term or semester left before graduating.

Do I need a letter of recommendation to enter?

Yes. The form of the recommendation may be a letter or a PDF or e-­mail (preferred) sent directly to the contest coordinator:

James W. Brown, Ph.D.
10710 Pine Bluff Drive
Fishers, IN 46037

Or by email to: jwbrown@nppf.org

Recommendations must arrive by the contest deadline.

Do I have to be a student member of NPPA to enter? 

No. But we recommend membership for its obvious education benefits to you and your developing career as a photojournalist.

I entered the minimum six entries and closed my browser but now want to make an additional entry. What do I do?

Go to http://www.nppa.org/competitions/scholarships/ and login with your previous login. You need to affirm your agreement to all the scholarship application rules each time you update your application. Those checkboxes are at the bottom of the page and you will probably have to scroll down to see them. Once you check the boxes and click the “Submit” button below them, you will see your previous entries and be able to edit them or submit new entries up to the limit of 12. You may make edits up to the deadline for entries.