Information for 2020 is coming soon!
MIPA’s On-site Contests are only open to participants of MIPA’s Spring Awards event.
- Pre-register for on-site contests below. Pre-registration will close at 5 p.m. one business day prior to the event.
- Pre-registration is not required, but space is limited. You may register at the door. Entry is on a first-come, first-served basis.
- Please provide students’ names when you pre-register for contests. You may make substitutions when students check in.
- Students/teams must check-in by the designated time or they may be disqualified. Entries must be submitted by the designated time or they will not be accepted for judging.
- Instructions will be given in the on-site contest room at 9 a.m. All participants should be present.
- Each school may be limited to a certain number of entries/students/teams per category.
- Contests will be judged after the event.
- Use of copyrighted music, artwork, videos or other materials without written permission of the copyright holder may violate U.S. law and MIPA’s Copyright & Plagiarism Policy. Entries that violate this policy will be disqualified.
On-Site News/Feature Video
This category will allow students to create a news or feature story, including interviews, B-roll, standup, etc. Teams will be given a topic in which to report their story.
- Teams must sign in at the registration desk upon arrival at the event
- Cost: $3 per team
- There is no limit on the number of teams per school, but each team can have a maximum of three students.
- Entries may be published by MIPA in its newsletter, online or via social media.
- Use of copyrighted music, artwork, videos or other materials without written permission of the copyright holder may violate U.S. law and MIPA’s Copyright & Plagiarism Policy. Entries that violate MIPA’s Copyright & Plagiarism Policy will be disqualified.
- Students are to bring their own cameras, storage media, microphones and editing equipment — most likely, a laptop. Drones may not be used during this contest.
- Please note: Students may be asked to leave the Lansing Center building to participate in this contest. If so, they will be given boundaries for how far away they may be allowed to travel.
- There will be a 10-minute instruction period at 9 a.m in the contest room. You must attend this session. Directions to the contest room will be available at the registration desk.
Students will have until 12:30 p.m. to complete the video.
The subject of the video will be given to the students during the instruction period.
Students may not come with any pre-made footage. The video will be 2–4 minutes and must be turned in on a DVD or flash drive. MIPA will have some flash drives, but you are welcome to bring your own.
Students will be judged on the technical standards detailed in MIPA’s Video Best Practices, uniqueness of the story and script writing.
MIPA will not supply any equipment. Please bring all of your own equipment.
On-Site Cinematography
This category will allow students to focus on telling stories through strong visuals. Teams will be given a topic in which to tell a story with only video, natural sound and music (no interviews or voiceovers).
- Teams must sign in at the registration desk upon arrival at the event
- Cost: $3 per team
- There is no limit on the number of teams per school, but each team can have a maximum of two students.
- Entries may be published by MIPA in its newsletter, online or via social media.
- Use of copyrighted music, artwork, videos or other materials without written permission of the copyright holder may violate U.S. law and MIPA’s Copyright & Plagiarism Policy. Entries that violate MIPA’s Copyright & Plagiarism Policy will be disqualified.
- Students are to bring their own cameras, storage media, microphones and editing equipment — most likely, a laptop. Drones may not be used during this contest.
- Please note: Students may be asked to leave the Lansing Center building to participate in this contest. If so, they will be given boundaries for how far away they may be allowed to travel.
- There will be a 10-minute instruction period at 9 a.m. in the contest room. You must attend this session. Directions to the contest room will be available at the registration desk.
Students will have until 12:30 p.m. to complete the video.
The subject of the video and a selection of music tracks will be given to the students during the instruction period.
Students may not come with any pre-made footage. The video will be 2–4 minutes and must be turned in on a DVD or flash drive. MIPA will have some flash drives, but you are welcome to bring your own.
Students will be judged on creativity and technical execution following the standards established in MIPA’s Video Best Practices.
MIPA will not supply any equipment. Please bring all of your own equipment.
On-Site Photography
Revised for 2020: This category will allow students to demonstrate photojournalism skills. Students, working individually, will be given a series of challenges to demonstrate photojournalism skills. Participants will submit photographs related to these challenges.
- Participants must sign in at the registration desk upon arrival at the event.
- Cost: $3 per participant
- 1 entry per participant. There is no limit on the number of participants per school.
- Entries may be published by MIPA in its newsletter, online or via social media.
- Participants are to bring their own cameras and, if desired, editing equipment. (The use of drones is not allowed in on-site contests.) MIPA will have a laptop that you can use to submit your photo files, but will not provide computer equipment for photo editing.
- Please note: Students may be allowed to leave the Lansing Center building to participate in this contest. If so, they will be given boundaries for how far away they may be allowed to travel. We encourage students to travel in groups.
- There will be a 10-minute instruction period at 9 a.m. in the contest room. You must attend this session. Directions to the contest room will be available at the registration desk.
Students will have until 12:30 p.m. to complete their photography.
Instructions for the photography challenges will be given to the students during the instruction period.
Students may not come with any pre-made photography. Photographs may be turned in directly to a MIPA computer, via flash drive or via email. MIPA will have some flash drives, but you are welcome to bring your own.
What the judges will look for: Imaginative subject matter; technical quality and excellence; photo composition; visual impact; story told in each photograph; cropping; lighting. Quality of caption for each individual image also may be considered.
MIPA will not supply any equipment or cameras. Please bring all of your own equipment.