The Official Site of the Missouri Interscholastic Journalism Association

MIJA
The Official Site of the Missouri Interscholastic Journalism Association

MIJA
The Official Site of the Missouri Interscholastic Journalism Association

MIJA

Individual Contests

BetterBNC is open for 2025 contest submissions! Please refer to the 2025 Contest Instructions to organize your submissions. As a reminder, membership renewals must be submitted by Jan. 31 of each school year if your school wishes to participate in contests or JDay. 

As you prepare your submissions, please remember

  • the submission deadline is Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025.
  • any PDF that should be evaluated as a spread must be submitted as such. For directions on how to combine single page PDFs into a spread using InDesign, see here; otherwise, speak with your yearbook or printing rep for assistance.
  • to sign into BetterBNC early to make sure you will not have issues logging into the system as the deadline approaches. If you do encounter issues, please contact Michelle Kennedy.

Contact the MIJA office at [email protected] or Christina Manolis if you have any questions. Thank you for your patience! MIJA board members are made up of volunteers who are advisers and educators just like you. Please contact us with any concerns or suggestions on how we can improve the contest process, or if you would be willing to assist with MIJA in the future.

Thank you, and good luck! 

Jamie Muñoz and Michelle Kennedy, JDay Contest Coordinators

 

HOW TO ENTER: Use these 2025 Instructions to MIJA Schools/Teachers/Students document to enter the 2025 contest! 

INDIVIDUAL STUDENT, ADULT AND BUSINESS RECOGNITIONS

(Must be received by midnight of the listed due date.)

All overall contest categories are divided by four school enrollment sizes, so all publications compete with schools of similar size. Enrollment size classifications are included on instructions for the contest.

  • Broadcast – overall show – due Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025
    • Announcements Only – student anchors read announcements.
    • Announcements/Video – student anchors read announcements mixed with video coverage.
    • Newsmagazine – student anchors introduce video coverage; no announcements are read.
  • Online – overall website – due Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025
    • Each paid membership publication may enter one overall news website for critique.
  • Radio/Podcast – overall – due Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025
    • A talk show program (radio/podcast) that is no more than 10 minutes in length.
  • Newspaper/Newsmagazine – overall – due Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025
    • You will submit one set of TWO different issues of your newspaper/newsmagazine for evaluation.
      • One issue must be an early issue (September or October), and the other two issues may be any you wish.
      • Newspapers will be judged independently of newsmagazines.
  • Yearbook – overall – 
    • Overall Yearbooks are critiqued after they are published.
      • 2023-2024 were due June-September 2024
      • 2024-2025 will be due June-September 2025. Details will be announced in May 2025.

INDIVIDUAL STUDENT RECOGNITIONS

  • Broadcast Individual Entry Categories – due Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025
    • All submitted pieces must have been aired via web, in-school system, etc., between August 1, 2024 and the contest deadline.
    • Each paid publication may enter up to eight videos in any combination of the categories.
    • Non-members must pay a fee of $5 per entry and may only submit one entry per category:
      • News Story – current or breaking news events or topics, maximum length 2 minutes
      • News Feature – feature package tied to a current news topic, maximum length 3 minutes
      • Human Interest Feature – feature package about an individual or topic of interest to viewers, maximum length 3 minutes
      • Mini-Documentary – program focused on a single topic, maximum length of 10 minutes
      • Sports News Story – current sports news or game package, not a highlight reel, maximum length of 2 minutes.
      • Sports Feature Story – feature package covering an athlete or sports program or sports-related topic, maximum length of 3 minutes.
      • Commercial/PSA – commercial for an actual sponsor or a public service announcement on any topic, maximum length of 30 seconds of original material.
      • Live Sports Broadcast – Team continuous coverage of a live broadcast or livestreamed sporting event, maximum length of 5 minutes. Focus is on the concert of the team’s camera work, audio, graphics  and talent. 
      • Lives Sports Broadcast — Talent continuous coverage of a live broadcast or livestreamed sporting event, maximum length of 5 minutes. Focus is on the talent and the storytelling.
  • Print/Online Writing –  Individual Entry Categories – due Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025 (total of up to eight entries in any
    combination of categories)

    • All submitted pieces must have been published to the entire school via web or print publication between August 2024 and the contest deadline. Online submissions must be part of a regularly occurring online publication, and not just loaded to a random site, for the purpose of entering state contest.
    • Each paid publication may enter up to eight online pieces in any combination of the categories.
    • Non-members must pay a fee of $5 per entry and may only submit one entry per category:
      • Breaking News
      • News Writing
      • Feature
      • In Depth Feature
      • Editorial/Op-Ed
      • Review
      • Sports Reporting
  • Print Design–Individuals – due Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025 (total of up to four in any combination of categories)
    • All submitted pieces must have been published to the entire school via print publication between August 2024 and the contest deadline. 
    • Each paid publication may enter up to four pieces in any combination of the categories.
    • Non-members must pay a fee of $5 per entry and may only submit one entry per category:
      • Page Design–Cover
      • Page Design–Centerspread/Double Truck
      • Page Design–Inside Page
  • Social Media Reporting – Enter by submitting a social media outlet, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. Judge will choose a time block of up to a week in the judging period, Feb. 12 to March 12, to look at the media feed for content.
  • Radio/Podcast Individual Categories – due Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025
    • All submitted pieces must have been aired between August 1, 2024 and the contest deadline.
    • Each paid membership publication may enter up to eight total radio broadcasts or podcasts in any combination of the categories.
    • Non-members must pay a fee of $5 per entry and may only submit one entry per category:
      • Newscast/News Feature– A newscast or news feature that is no more than 10 minutes in length.
      • Radio News Package– Current events program that is no more than 10 minutes in length. Content should include current events, political events, sporting events and/or highlighting a local event affecting the community.
      • Sportscast/Sports Feature– A sportscast or feature that is no more than 10 minutes in length.
      • Public Service Announcement – An announcement of general public interest not more than 60 seconds in length. Must be written, produced and aired on your station.
      • Promotional Announcement– A single spot promoting school, station, programs or community events that is no more than three minutes in length.
      • Sports Play-by-Play– Play-by-play of a sports event that is no more than 10 minutes in length.
      • Talk Show– A talk show program (radio/podcast) that is no more than 10 minutes in length featuring issues of social importance, how-to programming or sports talk. (limit: one entry in this category).
  • Yearbook Individual Categories – due Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025
    • All submitted pieces must have been published or plan to be published in the current 2024-2025 yearbook and they must have been produced between August 1, 2024 and the contest deadline.
    • Each school may enter up to eight yearbook entries in any combination of the following categories.
    • Non-members must pay a fee of $5 per entry and may only submit one entry per category:
      • Overall theme/concept: Please choose four of the following to submit in a single PDF: cover, endsheet(s), title page, opening and/or closing spread, divider spread or graphic treatment(s) that help to explain theme or concept of the yearbook. Theme copy is expected to be on these pages.
      • Packages/Yearbook writing – Limit of eight per school in any combination:
        • Traditional Package is defined as design, writing, mods, photography, illustrations in one completed spread on one topic.  Traditional packages must be classified as one of the following sub-categories:
          • Academic package
          • Sports package
          • Student Life package
          • Club/Organizations Package
          • Portrait/People package (should include mods as well a portraits)
        • Non-Traditional Package is defined as design, writing, mods, photography, illustrations in one completed spread on more than one topic as in chronological or umbrella coverage.
        • Yearbook Design is defined as the arrangement of photos, illustrations, type and text in a way that compels the reader to read.
        • Yearbook Specialty Design is defined as the arrangement of photos, illustrations, type and text in a specialty spread, such as an interrupter, trends page, divider, etc.
        • Yearbook Writing is defined as writing that exemplifies excellence but cannot be entered in the package category because it is not yet on a spread or the spread is incomplete.
        • Yearbook Mods – is defined as a smaller amount of text with accompanying photos or illustrations that support a page’s main story. It is often considered the yearbook equivalent of a sidebar.

Please make sure that any PDF that should be evaluated as a spread is submitted as such. For directions on how to combine single page PDFs into a spread using InDesign, see here; otherwise, speak with your yearbook or printing rep for assistance.

  • Graphics Individual Categories – due Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025 (total of up to eight entries in any combination of categories for each program, but due to overwhelming numbers of entries, only TWO Action Sports.)
    • All submitted pieces must have been published or plan to be published in a publication, such as newspaper/newsmagazine, yearbook or online, between August 2024 and the contest deadline.
    • Each paid membership publication may enter no more than eight entries in any combination of the categories, except only TWO for Action Sports.
    • Non-members must pay a fee of $5 per entry and may only submit one entry per category:
      • News Photo – Photograph of a school, community or national news event.
      • Academic Photo – Taken in class or covering activity of the curriculum.
      • Student Life/Organization Photo (not sports) – Taken of the activity of a club or other organized group. Photo that covers activities that do not occur during the traditional academic day (i.e., club activities, school play, dances, homecoming, outside of school, off campus, trends, etc.).
      • Sports – Active photo of an athletic competition that captures motion, emotion and the competitive spirit of the athlete. (Only TWO entries allowed per program.)
      • Sports Feature/Reaction Photo – Photograph of emotional response to athletic competition by fans, athletes, coaches or other people involved.
      • Portrait – Photograph, either posed or candid, showcasing the personality or newsworthy aspect of a person or group of people.
      • Photo Illustration – Digital or darkroom manipulation of an image or a group of images to illustrate a concept.
      • Artwork/Illustration – Original artwork or original computer artwork used to establish a theme or mood with the intent to enhance any news/feature/sports article.
      • Editorial Cartoon – Student-produced illustration containing a political or social message that usually relates to current events or personalities.
      • Infographic – A visual image such as a chart or diagram used to represent information or data; may include a photo illustration the relays information.

MIJA’s AI Policy

Any contest submission found to have used AI for content creation besides for methods MIJA approves of will be disqualified. 

Such approved methods can be, but are not limited to, using AI to 

  • generate story or visual design ideas, 
  • develop interview questions, 
  • remove a background of photographs/images, 
  • transcribe interviews with supervision from the writer, 
  • spell/grammar check written content without altering the writer’s phrasing,

Use of AI that is NEVER approved of is having it, rather than the scholastic journalism student, create written, visual or auditory content; all written, visual and auditory content must be the original work of scholastic journalism students or copyrighted materials that the program has documented approval to publish.

JDAY ON SITE CONTESTS

Each adviser may also sign up one student or team (depending on the contest) for one of the on site contests. The categories are below:

QUESTIONS:

Please contact the MIJA office at [email protected] with any questions.