How to win an International Radio Award in New York

8 tips to give you a winning edge.

The world’s getting smaller. The good news is that you can now enter your best work in an international competition for The World’s Best Radio Programs™. The bad news is that on this level the competition is much tougher. But think of the achievement if you win!

Last year the New York Festivals – The World’s Best Radio Programs™ fielded 260 entries from 32 countries. Winners came from places as diverse as India, Hong Kong, The Philippines, Australia, Taiwan, Egypt, Sweden and Colombia.

Entries are now open for the 2015 New York Festivals The World’s Best Radio Programs™. There’s no reason why you or your station can’t win one of these fabulous looking Art Deco radio microphone trophies.

But hurry, you only have till March 19 to enter.

To help you in your endeavours, here are some tips from radioinfo contributor and seasoned awards judge James Cridland.

Here are eight ways to win a radio award, and have something for your trophy cabinet – and your CV

By James Cridland – first posted 3 January, 2015

I’ve judged a pile of radio awards – the ABC Local Radio awards, the Radio Academy Awards, the Student Radio Awards, the Gillards, and many, many more.

Judging awards is hard work, and takes a lot of concentration. But sometimes, award entries just don’t help themselves. Frustrating, often amateur mistakes put great broadcasters at a disadvantage.

So, based on my experience, here’s eight ways you can make your entries better:

    1.    Don’t leave it to the last minute. The categories rarely change each year, so archive audio every week and keep it for the ACRAS, and the New York Festivals; as well as your compilation shows at the end of the year, the Radio Academy Awards or whatever replaces them, and your CV.

    2.    Please don’t use the horrible scratchy output from your logger system. Tinny and bitrate-starved audio puts you at an automatic disadvantage to everyone else. Judges are supposed to overlook that, but its hard not to. (And anyway, you can’t use that for on-air use later, can you?)

    3.    Don’t fill your time if you don’t need to. Yes, you have up to half an hour in many categories; but if you can convince the judges in twenty minutes, you get no extra points for padding.

    4.    Make the audio really count. The judges’ aim is to judge the audio in front of them. We can’t base our award on stuff we heard once but isn’t in your entry, because that wouldn’t be fair to stations we don’t listen to.

    5.    Make your audio back up the award you are entering. It should be really clear what this compilation is a compilation of, and how it answers the rubric of the category you’re entering. If it isn’t, you’re doing it wrong. (And trust me, many stations, big and small, have done it wrong).

    6.    Take care of your additional information. Poor photocopies or handwritten notes don’t help your entry.

    7.    But remember it’s a radio award, not a typesetting award, nor a “best use of the departmental laminator” award. The audio is what matters, over and above anything else. So take the time to mix it well, edit it nicely, and watch those levels. Lessen repetition in a compilation, if you can, particularly if there’s a signature tune or a voiced jingle for the feature you’re entering.

    8.    But the most important rule is left to last. Enter. Because if you don’t enter, you’re guaranteed not to win.

Any other hints and tips? Tell us all, in the comments below.

James Cridland — James is the Managing Director of media.info, and a radio futurologist: a consultant, writer and public speaker who concentrates on the effect that new platforms and technology are having on the radio business. You can read his regular column ‘Radio Tomorrow’ on radioinfo. His website is at james.cridland.net, where you can subscribe to his weekly newsletter.

Tags: