Highlight your best tactics with an El Bronce Award!

Entry Deadline: 3:00 p.m., Thursday, March 4, 2010.
Download El Bronce Entry Packet (pdf version of this page)
Download Entry Form (El Bronce/La Plata) pdf
Download Sample El Bronce Judging Questions (pdf)
(Members $55; Nonmembers $65) Online payment will be available soon.

About El Bronce Awards
El Bronce (Bronze) Awards recognize excellence in public relations tactics. Entries may be submitted in the following categories.

**Note: Entries in all asterisked categories must be written in their entirety or substantively by the entrant and not merely pitched.

Print

· Newsletters (C1): Publications designed, written and published periodically to provide brief and timely information to target audiences while supporting an organization's overall objectives. Submit three consecutive issues along with your summary.

· Magazines (C2): Publications designed to provide in-depth information about an organization or topic on a regular basis. Magazines typically are differentiated from newsletters by the number of pages and length of articles. Submit two consecutive issues along with your summary.

· Annual Reports (C3): Publications that report on an organization’s annual performance. Submit one copy of the publication along with your summary.

· Brochures (C4): Pamphlets, booklets or other small publications designed to inform a target audience about an organization, product, service or issue. Submit one copy of the publication along with your summary.

· Special Purpose Publications (C5): Single-issue publications designed for a special purpose. Books and other publications not eligible for consideration in other categories should be entered here. Submit one copy of the publication along with your summary.

· Direct Mail/Direct Response (C6): Communications designed to solicit a specific, immediate response by the target audience. This can be a single communication or a series. Quantifiable, specific actions by the target audience recipients resulting solely from the sponsor's communication should be detailed in the summary. Submit a copy of the publication along with your summary.

· News Releases (C7): Written announcement of a company, organization or individual’s new product, new service, new hire, event, accomplishment, etc.**

· Media Kits (C8): Background information or photographs compiled for an organization, product, issue or event. Submit one copy of the media kit along with your summary.**

· Speeches (C9): Submit text of speech along with your summary. The summary should include information on audience, purpose of speech and any documented results.**

· Feature Stories (C10): Submit text of feature article as well as documentation of publication and its placement. The summary should include target audience, objectives and any documented results.**

· Editorials/Op-Ed Columns (C11): Opinion articles written as an editorial, guest column or letter to the editor. Submit text of article and documentation of publication. The summary should outline objectives, audience, results and budget.**

· Advertorials (C12): Paid advertising written as editorial matter to gain support for a product, issue, program or organization. Submit text of editorial matter and documentation of publication. The summary should include target audience, objectives and budget.**

Broadcast

Note: Broadcast category submissions created for use on the Web should be entered in the appropriate interactive category.

· Video Programs (C13): Entrants should submit programs on a USB flash drive or single DVD as a reasonable representation. The summary should include documentation of results.

· Video News Releases or Television PSAs (C14): Pre-produced videos distributed to television stations to inform target audiences about an event, product, service or organization or as non-paid public service announcements. Entries may consist of edited or unedited video and sound bites on a USB flash drive or DVD. Single productions or a series addressing the same issue may be submitted on a single flash drive or DVD. The summary should include usage statistics or other means of quantified measurement.

· Audio Programs or Radio PSAs (C15): Submit audio programs on a USB flash drive or CD/DVD along with a summary. Single productions or a series addressing the same issue may be submitted on a single USB flash drive or CD/DVD. Summary should include usage statistics or other means of quantified measurement.

· B-roll (C16): Include video footage, with or without audio, distributed to television stations for use in stories about an event, product, service, issue or organization. Entries may be submitted on a USB flash drive or single DVD. The summary should include statistics and other quantifiable measurements to support stated objectives. (Video footage edited/produced as a packaged news story/feature with audio should be submitted under Category C14 - Video News Releases or Television PSAs.)

· Press Conferences (C17): A meeting for the media to announce a company, organization or individual’s new product, new service, event, accomplishment, etc. The summary should address logistics, execution and quantifiable measures to demonstrate the press conference achieved its stated objectives.

Interactive/Web-based

· Web Sites (C18): Site targeting an organization’s external audience or key stakeholders. Must have been substantially developed, written and/or designed by entrant. Include screen grabs or copies of key pages to support your summary. In addition, include the Web site URL.

· Intranets (C19): Site targeting an organization’s internal staff or stakeholders. Must have been substantially developed, written and/or designed by entrant. Include screen grabs or copies of key pages to support your summary.

· Webcasts (C20): Media files distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology. May be live or recorded. Submit the summary and a USB flash drive or DVD of the webcast as well as the actual site URL.

· Podcasts (C21): Audio or video programs/shows produced solely as podcasts, downloadable for play on portable media players such as iPods, MP3 players, etc. The summary should include the rationale for the podcasting strategy, statistics or other means of quantifiable measurement to support stated objectives, as well as a copy of the actual podcast being entered on a CD, DVD or USB flash drive.

· Blogs (C22): Blogs that communicated either a corporate, public service or industry position. The summary should include the rationale for blogging strategy, target audiences, and statistics or other means of quantifiable measurement to support stated objectives. Screen downloads of the blog being entered, as well as the actual site URL, must be submitted with the entry.

· Social Media (C23): Use of social media including Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, etc. as part of a public relations program. Include screen grabs or copies of key pages to support your summary. Additionally, include the Web site URL for external sites.

· Smartphone Applications (C24): Smartphone applications incorporated into a public relations program. Include copy and any images of key pages to support your summary. Additionally, include brief instructions on how to download the application. Applications may have been created by entrant or entrant’s outside vendor.

· Other Interactive Communications (C25): New, creative or unconventional use of technology in a public relations program that doesn’t qualify in the categories listed above. Submit a summary including Web address, objectives, target audience, techniques, budget and results. Entrants should include screen captures or print copies of key Web pages in case connection with sites during judging fails.

Campaign Support

· Research/Evaluation (C26): Research that provides a meaningful contribution or input to a public relations program, or an evaluation documenting the value or benefit of a public relations program or tactic. Sample of the methodology and findings of any research should be included in the entry along with your summary. Summaries for evaluations should detail how and why this method is unique and valuable.**

· Creative Tactics (C27): Unconventional, creative tactic or approach used as part of a public relations program. Documentation of how the tactic contributed to the results of the campaign should be included in the summary. (If objects are large or bulky, a photograph or video representation should be sent.)**

El Bronce Entry Guidelines
· PRSA members and nonmembers are eligible to submit as many entries as they wish in any category.

· Entrants must be members of the San Antonio Area PRSA chapter or public relations professionals serving a San Antonio and South Texas client, company, event or program.

· The majority of work for entries submitted in the 2010 contest must have been completed during the 2009 calendar year.

· Each entry must be submitted in a hardcover, three-ring view binder. (Labeled videotapes may be separate from the binder.) Judges will not consider the exterior of the binder in judging the entry. One copy of the entry form must be inserted in the clear front cover of the binder.

· Each entry must be accompanied by the following:

· A summary on single-sided letter-size paper with one-inch margins and in no smaller than 10-point type. The summary should include a brief situation analysis for your program and separate sections detailing each of the four judging criteria: planning/content, creativity/quality, technical excellence, and assessment/results. The summary cannot exceed two pages. It should address the following.

• Explain the need for this project. What goals and objectives did you intend to accomplish?
• What did your client/employer want to say? What was your message?
• Who was the audience you intended to reach?
• Describe your project.
• How did you measure your project’s effectiveness?

· Three copies of the completed entry form (see below) - one inserted in the front cover and two enclosed in the front of the binder.

· A 100-word description of your entry. Please include a print copy and an electronic copy on a labeled CD. If your entry receives an award, your description will be read during the awards presentation.

· A graphic (logo, publication cover, screenshot, etc.) that is related to your entry. Include your graphic on the same disc as your 100-word description. If your entry receives an award, your graphic will be displayed on the screen during the awards presentation.

· Support materials. Samples, news clippings, photos, publications and copies of materials used in the planning and execution of the program should be enclosed in the binder. Materials larger than the binder format must be folded or reduced to fit the binder.

· Payment of the El Bronce entry fee must accompany each entry. Fees are $55 for PRSA members and $65 for nonmembers. “Member” is defined as holding a current, paid membership with the PRSA San Antonio Chapter as of March 3, 2010.

· Preferred payment is by credit card online through Cvent at www.prsanantonio.com. For those with multiple entries, please make a separate credit card payment for each entry. Include a paid receipt from Cvent with each entry.

· Alternatively, a single check covering all entry fees from a single organization or entrant is acceptable, provided multiple entries are delivered simultaneously and a copy of each entry form covered by the check is attached to it. Checks should be made payable to “PRSA.”

· El Bronce entries must be received no later than 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 4, 2010. Mail or deliver your entry (along with proof of Cvent payment or check to PRSA) to Abbey Forney; Urology San Antonio; 7909 Fredericksburg Rd., Ste. 110; San Antonio, Texas 78229.

El Bronce Judging
An impartial panel of professionals in public relations from a sister PRSA chapter is recruited to judge the competition. Judges have the right to declare multiple winners in any category and may move entries between categories or combine categories where appropriate, especially where such action enhances the ability of an entry to win an award. The judges may reject any entry that does not meet contest requirements and may choose not to present an award in any category.

The summary is the single-most important component of the El Bronce entry. Judges will use the summary to evaluate your program on the merits of the four criteria: planning/content, creativity/quality, technical excellence and assessment/results.

See the sample El Bronce judging form on the San Antonio Chapter web site. It includes the questions that the judges will consider when evaluating your project on the merits of the four criteria.

Please direct questions regarding your entry to Del Oro Judging Committee Chair Nancy Arispe at 210-567-0729 or arispen@uthscsa.edu.