Print

ENTRY FEE
We charge a one-time contest entry fee of $20. IJEA contest fees are no longer waived. The entry fee for all participating publications is $20. But please note that this is a one-time flat fee. We DO NOT charge a fee for each individual entry.

IJEA MEMBERSHIP FEE
In addition to the $20 contest fee, you will also owe $25 if you are not yet an IJEA member for 2021-22.

WHERE TO SEND YOUR PAYMENT
Make checks payable to "Illinois Journalism Education Association." Please mail your entry fee and (if applicable) your membership fee to:

Jenn Galloy, IJEA Treasurer
7405 Kenicott Lane
Plainfield, IL 60586

IJEA MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENT FOR ADVISERS
You must be an IJEA member for your students’ work to be eligible for this contest. Membership becomes effective only when we receive payment of your membership fee. If you are not a member at the time you submit your students’ entries, you will have a seven-day grace period in which to join. We must receive your membership form and your $25 membership fee within seven days of receiving your contest entries for your students to be eligible. To join IJEA, complete and submit our online membership form or our PDF membership form, both of which are available on the IJEA website:

• Online Membership Form
• PDF Membership Form

  Print

WELCOME TO OUR NEW CONTEST PLATFORM
We are using a new contest platform this year, one constructed by BetterBNC, a company that specializes in administering publication contests around the country.

BEFORE DOING ANYTHING ELSE
Before using the new platform, please fill out and submit the IJEA Adviser Information Form. This is the one holdover from our previous contest platform. Filling out the form takes less than a minute, and doing so provides us with the information needed to place your publication in the correct enrollment division and correct publication category (print, digital or hybrid). The form is available on the IJEA website at:

• 2022 IJEA Adviser Information Form

TO GET STARTED ON THE NEW PLATFORM
Details about the contest (deadline, entry fee, eligibility window, number of entries per category, etc.) are located elsewhere on this page. The fundamentals of our contest haven’t changed, so if you are a returning adviser, these details will be familiar to you. What’s new is the platform itself. To get started, click “ENTER THE CONTEST HERE,” which is located in the upper right corner of this page.

AFTER YOU CLICK “ENTER THE CONTEST HERE”
As your publication’s adviser, you will serve as your students’ “Contestant Manager.” So click “Contestant Manager” if it has not already been preselected for you. Then for “Media Organization” select the name of your school.

IF YOUR SCHOOL IS NOT LISTED
Contact Dave Porreca at dporreca@illinoisjea.org and let him know that your school isn't listed in the "Media Organization" dropdown menu. (Currently only schools that participated in last year's contest are listed.) He will add your school, and you'll be good to go.

PASSWORD
For “Password” type in “bnc” (all lower case). This is a generic password that you will use only once. Then hit "Login."

AFTER YOU HIT "LOGIN"
After you login, you will immediately be asked to create your own password. You will also be asked to provide basic contact information and to accept the BNC terms of use. Once you complete all of that, hit “Submit.”

AFTER YOU HIT “SUBMIT”
You are now ready to submit entries. To begin the submission process, hit “Submit Entry” located on the left side of the page. This will take you to your entry submission page.

USING THE ENTRY SUBMISSION PAGE
The entry submission page is self-explanatory except for the first step. In the first step, you will be asked to choose a “Division.” In this context, “Division” DOES NOT refer to enrollment divisions. Instead, “Division” refers to different types of contest categories grouped together based on shared elements. You will find nine divisions listed:

• Art & Graphics (three categories — open to all publications)
• Digital-Only Categories (five categories — open to digital pubs or digital hybrids only)
• Features (two categories — open to all)
• Miscellaneous (four categories — open to all)
• News (two categories — open to all)
• Opinion (four categories — open to all)
• Photos (two categories — open to all)
• Print-Only Categories (five categories — open to print pubs or print hybrids only)
• Sports (three categories — open to all)

To begin the entry process, select the division you want. Then choose the category within that division which you would like to enter. After that, simply follow the directions; everything will be self-explanatory from that point on. Then repeat the process for each entry you want to submit.