Student Contests: Preparing Entries
Preparing Photo Entries
Before starting...
If you haven't already, please take time to familiarize yourself with the overall competition process, outlined on Submitting online entries.
Preparing your images
All images must meet the following requirements. You can use the list below as a checklist. Each list item links to detailed instructions for how to do each one.
- File format: Photos must be in JPG format.
- Color mode: Photos must either be color (RGB) or black-and-white (grayscale) or a combination of color and black-and-white.
- Cropping: Crop photos as desired for competition. They need not be cropped for competition in the same manner in which they appeared in the publication.
- Image size: Photos should be as large as possible (without enlarging), but must not exceed 5,000 pixels in the long direction.
- Metadata: Photos must have the name of its creator, and a caption, entered in the document info for the image. ***Please SAVE AS for your photos rather than Export. The Export process does not keep the metadata and will result in an error when uploading photos into the contest system.
File format
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) has become the standard file format for sharing files transmitted over the Internet. It is also acceptable for most print media and online media. It is the ONLY format acceptable for images to be submitted in the JEA National Student Media Contests.
The following file formats are NOT acceptable: PSD (Photoshop document), Raw, TIFF (Tag Image File Format), BMP (bitmap), GIF (Graphic Interchange Format), XCF (eXperimental Computing Facility), PDF, (Portable Document Format). Again, ONLY JPEG files will be accepted.
Note that, while PDF entries are accepted for online submission in design contests, PDF entries for photos are not acceptable.
JPEG is a compression scheme. To maintain the highest quality while compromising file size, file should be saved at a compression ("Quality") of 10, 11 or 12. Judges may consider file quality as part of the critique and the judging. Files saved using a compression of lower than 10 may have noticeably lower quality.
Setting the color mode
Adobe Photoshop and similar programs allow for a variety of color modes, including RGB, grayscale, CMYK, Lab, Index, among others. While each of these modes serves a purpose, only two are acceptable for entries in the JEA National Student Media Contests: RGB and grayscale.
Cropping
Crop the photo as needed to render the best image composition. It does not have to be cropped the same as it was in the publication.
Image size adjustment
When comparing two images, judges will, naturally, be more impressed with a larger image. Unless an image when taken straight from the camera is already smaller than 5,000 pixels in the long direction, size the image so that it is 5,000 pixels in the long direction. The majority of images will be larger than 5,000 pixels in the long direction by default.
While there is no minimum file size, quality of the image will be considered by the judges and they should have adequate digital information to view the image at a reasonable size. To that end, we have designated that the image be:
- 5,000 pixels or less in the long direction (either horizontal or vertical).
You don't have to worry about the resolution, only the number of pixels in the long direction.
There is no longer an official file size limit for photo entries. As long as the image is no more than 5,000 pixels in its wider dimension, any file size up to 64MB will be accepted.
How to optimize the size of your photo
The idea of this process is to produce the best quality image possible, while complying with image size limits. This is the process to use with Adobe Photoshop. Other image editing software may require different steps, but most of them have the features we use in Photoshop to do the same thing we describe here.
Here's an image we (hypothetically) want to submit:
When the image is loaded into Photoshop, and the image size properties are viewed by choosing [Image], [Image Size...] from the main menu, we see all the dimensions of the overall image.
This photo clearly does not comply with the size limits for a photo contest submission; its longest dimension in pixels is 6,500.
If the longest dimension is greater than 5,000 pixels, change it — in this case, the width — to 5,000 or less. This will bring the photo into compliance with the image size requirement, a long dimension of 5,000 pixels or less. If both dimensions of the photo are already less than 5,000, do NOT enlarge an image that is already smaller than 5,000 pixels in both dimensions.
To obtain the best possible image quality within the size limit, do NOT reduce the image any farther than is necessary. Reducing an image entry too much will affect the quality of the entry, which is taken into consideration by judges.
What about the file size limit?
There is a technical limit of 64MB, which is unlikely to be approached by any image meeting the 5,000 pixel limit.
Entering metadata (author and caption)
Adobe Photoshop and most other image-editing tools allow for the inclusion of metadata, everything from aperture and shutter speed used when the image was taken and automatically included with digital images to the captions typed in after-the-fact by the photographer. Following the lead of all national photo contests and major media outlets, JEA requires credit and caption information for all images submitted in the competitions.
Author credit: Format the credit as follows:
Photo by <author name>, <school name> (<town>, <state>; <adviser name>, adviser)
Note: There is a known bug in Adobe Photoshop regarding the punctuation in the Description metadata field. Attempt to follow the guidance shown here. However, if Photoshop changes the punctuation, the entry will still be accepted.
For example:
Photo by Max Fowler, Lugoff-Elgin High School (Lugoff, S.C.; Jenny Proctor, adviser)
Caption: The caption should follow general rules for caption writing. In general, it should answer the questions who, what, when, where and why with the first sentence in present tense and subsequent sentences in past tense.
A well-written caption will improve your chances of a good ruling. Click here to download an article on caption writing.
In Adobe Photoshop
In Photoshop, bring up the file info dialog: from the main menu, choose [File], [File Info...]
In other programs
If using other programs to enter the author credit and caption, use corresponding metadata fields compared to Photoshop:
- Adobe Photoshop — Author and Description fields
- Adobe Lightroom — Creator and Caption
- Adobe Bridge — Creator and Description
- Photopea — Artist and Image Description
- Apple Photo — Use the Description field (the Author/Creator field cannot be edited)
- GIMP - As of version 2.13, GIMP support the editing of caption information.
Submitting your photo entries
Some tips for submissions:
- Double-check to make sure your photos meet all the requirements. Use the check sheet to confirm all the crucial steps were done. This will save time and frustration at upload time.
- JEA will not accept late entries. Do not wait until the last day to upload entries.
Click here for instructions on uploading your photos.
Preparing Design Entries
Before starting...
If you haven't already, please take time to familiarize yourself with the overall competition process, outlined on Submitting online entries.
Preparing your layouts for submission
Layout submissions generally start in InDesign, or other publishing software, and are exported to a PDF for submission.
Design entries must be in PDF format, and can be no larger than 20 MB in file size.
Some design entries, especially yearbook, news and literary magazine layouts must be saved as spreads. Check the contest rules.
For Contest 10: Newsmagazine Design and Contest 18: Yearbook Cover/Endsheets, entries must be submitted as ONE PDF file. Follow these directions How to combine and merge multiple page/PDF files into one PDF:
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Within Acrobat, click on the Tools menu and select Combine Files.
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Click Combine Files, and then click Add Files to select the files you want to include in your PDF.
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Click, drag and drop to reorder the files and pages. Double-click on a file to expand and rearrange individual pages. Press the Delete key to remove unwanted content.
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When finished arranging files, click Combine Files.
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Click the Save button.
These instructions are more specific to Adobe InDesign, but other publishing programs have similar features that can be used to produce similar results. If a layout exported to PDF from another program is too large and cannot be exported to a size any smaller, it can be further reduced in Adobe Acrobat. (See "Exporting from other programs" below.)
How to make a contest entry compliant PDF from InDesign
To begin the PDF export in InDesign, from the main menu, choose [File], [Export].
In the file save dialog, enter a file name and choose the PDF file format for the export.
In the export dialog, choose the "High Quality Print" preset. This produces a medium-range quality PDF which will be suitable in most cases.
Check the file size of the exported PDF to be sure it meets the 4MB file size limit.
What if the file size is too big?
In the case of a layout with many elements, numerous high resolution images, or numerous pages, the exported file size may still be too big. In these cases, there are a couple of ways to produce a smaller PDF file.
- Switch to the "Smallest File Size" preset when exporting to a PDF in InDesign and try the export again.
- Open the exported PDF in Acrobat, and re-save it as a "reduced PDF". This will produce a better result than option 1), but either option will be acceptable in terms of judging considerations. The instructions for that are in then next section on exporting to PDF from other publishing programs.
Exporting from other publishing programs
If you created your spread in a program other than InDesign, you can still reduce the file size significantly by using Adobe Acrobat Pro. Look for a feature such as "Reduce File Size." In Acrobat Pro XI, this is done by [File], [Save As Other...], [Reduced Size PDF].
Follow the remaining prompts with the default settings (other than the file name and location).
Check the file size of the exported PDF to be sure it meets the 4MB file size limit.
Upload your entry
Once the entry has been completed, proceed to Step 5: Uploading entries
Preparing Video Entries
Please carefully read these instructions on how to prepare videos for online submission.
NOTE: By submitting a student’s work, the adviser confirms that it is the work of the student entered and has not been entered in a previous JEA student contest.
In broadcast contests, students must provide documentation that all audio, video, and photographic material submitted belongs to the school submitting the work. Upon upload, students should provide proof that written permission has been granted from the copyright holder to use the material. This can be done by emailing the broadcast coordinator proof of subscription, purchase or contract with your entry. Royalty free music and self-produced music is permitted, as long as the student indicates the website and/or license agreement for the music. Failure to do so will result in no award and disqualification. The broadcast contest coordinator will Shazam every video with music to check copyright material.
*If your story uses music you must include the song title and provide a link to the song in the description below your Youtube or Vimeo video.
(example: Big Horns Intro by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music)
Step 1. Please make sure you read the overall rules carefully.
Step 2. Make sure you register yourself or your student (s) in the proper category at National Student Media Contests or Junior High/Middle School National Media Contest.
Contestants submitting entries for Short Documentary that contain only sound — please see the section at the bottom of this page, “Submitting Audio-Only Work.”
Step 3. Create a free YouTube, Vimeo or SchoolTube account
The account does not need to be an official school account, but it does need to be public. If you are already a member of any of these video services, skip to step 4.
Step 4. Upload Your video
- Ensure that the video meets the specifications of the particular contest you are entering, as well as guidelines of the video service you are using.
- Judges will not look at video titles, descriptions or tags, so you can put whatever you would like in these fields.
- Please ensure that the video is listed as public.
Step 5. Submit Your entry information to the NSMC system
- Copy the URL to the video that has been uploaded. (Examples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ7ckty_SHI or http://vimeo.com/50051915 or https://www.schooltube.com/video/fff4b041383749a1b5c1/)
- Log in to the contest system and enter your video entry information in the appropriate contest under the student's name. For detailed instructions to submit online contest entries (including this entry form), visit jea.org/contests.
Submitting Audio-Only Work
Video sharing sites are not designed to accept audio-only files. (e.g. mp3, WAV, etc.) To submit audio-only work for contest 41 (Short Documentary) students must convert the audio files into video files. This can be done in any video editing software such as iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. If you need more instruction on accomplishing this, see a similar tutorial that was created for uploading audio files to YouTube.
Guidelines:
- Must be uploaded as a video file:
- Audio will be the students' work
- Do not add titles or lettering of any kind to the video.
- Do not alter the original audio.
Questions about the NSMC process can be addressed to the the JEA broadcast coordinator A.J. Chambers, MJE, at anchambers@richland2.