Judging for this year’s Australian Commercial Radio Awards is in progress in the lead up to October’s Commercial Radio awards and conference. National judging panel chairman Dean Buchanan tells radioinfo that there were around 900 high quality entries for this year’s awards, and gives a few hints on how best to impress the judges.

“We have just finished marking the finalist of the radio awards and the judges felt the standard was very high this year. We were all encouraged and enthused by the quality right through the country, provincial and metropolitan entries,” says Buchanan.

Here are some of his top tips for preparing a winning entry:

* Stick to the audio duration. Read the entry form in full. The judges do! If your category asks for a maximum duration of 60 seconds, the judges will turn the audio off at 60 seconds.

* Regardless of your category, make sure you have outstanding audio right from the start, that is have your best stuff right up front. Judges have to listen to many many entries so the ones that pop as soon as the cd goes in the player are generally the ones that get listened to intently.

* Make sure your written entry is clear, concise and to the point. Overly long entries get skipped through in parts.

* If you are entering in multiple categories use different audio. Or at the very least change some elements of the audio. Basic human emotion always stands out whether it is great humour, empathy, tragedy or passion. Audio that reflects this stands out from the pack.

* Be creative and have some fun with your entry.

Finalists will be announced soon, with winners being revealed on the night of the ACRAs at Darling Harbour in Sydney.