Texas Media Awards
Contest Information

The Texas Media Awards promote excellence in amateur media production and its importance in life-long learning. Since 1988, it has been an annual, statewide event open to school-aged Texas residents. Qualified, impartial volunteers judge entries on criteria for each individual contest division. Students with winning entries receive awards at the Texas Media Awards Program during the Texas Library Association Annual Conference. The most outstanding entry over all earns the Bob Bennett "Best of Show" Award. Texas Media Awards Program sponsors include the Texas Media Awards Committee and the Media and Related Technologies Round Table of the Texas Library Association, and the Texas Association of School Librarians.

Entry Deadline: All materials must be postmarked by Friday, January 16, 2009.

Each entry must be submitted in its own envelope, but several envelopes may be packaged together with a check for the entry fees. Make checks payable to the Texas Library Association. NO entries will be returned.

Mail entries and fees to:

Texas Media Awards
Texas Library Association
3355 Bee Cave Road, Suite #401
Austin, TX 78746-6763

Entry Fee:

for a single entry by 1-10 students, the fee is $10
for a single entry by 11-20 students, the fee is $20
for a single entry by 21-30 students, the fee is $30
for a single entry by more than 30 students, contact the TMA Committee

As the Texas Media Awards Program grows, we must adopt changes to accommodate the number and diversity of entries received. The Texas Media Awards Committee collects a nominal fee per sponsor to help defray the costs of awards and prizes.

Like to Share?
We do...

Join the Texas Media Awards information list and receive reminders about TMA deadlines, news about changes to the TMA guidelines and entry process, and links to resources for promoting TMA.

As a list member, you can share information with other list members about your efforts to stay involved with the Texas Media Awards.

Join today; get others to join, too!

To join the list, simply send an email with no subject and no message to

join-tmainfo@txla.org

Shortly afterward, you will receive an email asking you to confirm your request to join.

Once you are a confirmed list member, you can share information or ask questions about the Texas Media Awards among a number of peers across the state.

The Texas Media Awards Committee looks forward to your comments and questions, and we look forward to seeing you all and your students in Dallas next April at TLA's annual conference!

Contest Divisions

The following contest division guidelines are in Adobe PDF format. Download the free Adobe Reader here.

Grade Levels

Judges will rate entries in four grade levels:

• PK-2
• 3-5
• 6-8
• 9-12

Group projects with mixed grade levels will compete in the higher grade-level category.

Contest Rules

1. Every entry must have a sponsoring public library, public school library, or private school library.
2. Individuals or groups may submit entries.
3. A sponsoring library may submit up to ten (10) entries per grade-level subdivision in each of the nine contest divisions.
4. Participants may submit either one individual project or one group project in each contest division.
5. Entries must adhere strictly to all applicable copyright laws and guidelines. The Texas Library Association reserves the right to disqualify any entry based on a reasonable belief that the entry has infringed the copyright laws of the U.S. or any other country.
6. In accordance with United States copyright laws, some projects may not be eligible to be shown publicly during the awards ceremony.
7. If an entry cannot be fully executed from the files contained on the submitted media, a standard Internet browser, or a standard media player, the entry will not be judged.
8. Entries must comply with specific contest division guidelines.
9. Paperwork must be submitted and fees received by the deadline for an entry to be judged.
10. Entries must have been initiated and completed between January 19, 2007 and January 18, 2008.

Copyright

All entries must adhere to copyright law. Refer to the following sources if you are unfamiliar with copyright as it applies to K-12:

• Educational CyberPlayground's Copyright Resources
• Copyright With CyberBee

Because copyright exemptions may not apply to public performances in the same way that they apply to classroom use, the Texas Library Association reserves the right not to show an entry during the awards ceremony based on a reasonable belief that showing the entry may infringe the copyright laws of the U. S. or any other country.