TMAC AWARD SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

As we open and welcome submissions for the 2023 TMAC Awards, we are excited to see submissions from our members that represent excellence within the Travel Media Profession, from Canadians. 

SUBMISSION TIMELINE for JUDGED AWARDS:

• OPEN for Submissions: January 15, 2024 (Subject to change)
• ATTEND THE INFORMATION SESSION:
  January 17, 2:30pm EASTERN: RSVP now
• DEADLINE for Submissions: 11:59 PM EASTERN, February 19, 2024
• FINALISTS announced: May 2024
• WINNERS announced: June 15, 2024 at the TMAC Awards Gala in St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador
  *Dates may be subject to change

2023 TMAC AWARD CATEGORIES
Annually the Award Categories are adjusted based on member feedback and changes in travel media channels.
Review the 2023 TMAC Award Categories HERE, noting there are a few **NEW** categories this year.

As you consider the Award Categories, and prepare for submission:

• REVIEW the Award Submission Guidelines below, CAREFULLY ... and read them again, just to be sure!
• NOTE all entries/submissions must be submitted via the online TMAC 2023 Awards Entry Form.
• IMPORTANT: Any entry that does not follow the guidelines below may be disqualified.

AWARD SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS (read to the very end of this page)

1. The TMAC Awards presented in 2024, are for works created in 2023 - is that correct? 
YES. While the TMAC Awards are presented in 2024, work being submitted for consideration is for the previous year.
Entries for ALL Award Categories must have been published between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023.

2. Who is eligible to enter the TMAC AWARDS?
Only current TMAC members may submit for our Awards. Your membership must be paid for 2024 prior to being eligible for submission.
If you have not yet renewed, please do so here: Renew TMAC Media Membership for 2024. 

3. There are 12 JUDGED Award Categories, who is eligible to enter?
The 12 Judged Awards are OPEN to submissions from TMAC MEDIA MEMBERS ONLY.
Members must have their 2024 membership fees paid in full to enter work for consideration (renew now).
These Awards are reviewed, and judged, with winners being selected by an external, independent panel of judges.
Submissions must be published between January 1 - December 31, 2023. 

4. Who is eligible for the 6 MEMBER VOTED Awards (when they open for submission)?
The 6 Member Voted Awards are OPEN TO BOTH MEDIA & INDUSTRY as specified within each category description.
Submissions for these Awards will be welcomed beginning in March. 
View Member Voted Award Categories and guidelines here.
*NOTE: Submissions made under TMAC's JUDGED Award Categories are eligible to be submitted under Member Voted and Chapter Award Categories as they are judged separately. 

5. Who is eligible for the Chapter Awards when they OPEN?
Media Members in good standing are eligible, subject to category descriptions and requirements, to submit for the Chapter Awards.

6. Are submissions for the 'Judged' Awards and 'Member-Voted' and 'Chapter' Awards treated separately?
YES. They are completely separate.
You are invited to submit up to a maximum of 6 entries within the Judged Awards.
Your submissions within the Member-Voted or Chapter Award Categories are not included within the maximum of 6.
STORY submissions: If you submit a 'story' within the Judged Awards, you may enter the same story in a Chapter presented award.
PHOTO submissions: If you enter a photo in the Judged Award categories, you are welcome to submit the same photo in the People's Choice Photo of the Year within the Member-Voted Awards when they open.

7.  What are the Minimum Criteria for 'Judged' Award Submissions?
ALL entries (article/photo/self-published website...etc.) must meet the same content criteria and minimum circulation figure for media membership qualification/re-qualification. This means work created as advertorial or sponsored content is accepted.  You can view the Media Membership Points Table here. If your submission would not meet the requirements to be a member of TMAC, it does not qualify for our Awards program. It is the responsibility of the Member to ensure their submission meets these criteria. Failure to do so will result in your submission being disqualified.

8. For Judged Awards, how many submissions can I enter?
The total number of submissions by a member across all 12 Judged Award Categories is capped at a MAXIMUM of SIX (6).
Any submissions above the first six (6) submitted will be disqualified and removed from the Award category.
In the case of Co-Creator members, while there are two 'members' under this membership category, you are limited to a maximum of 6 submissions in total (not 6 each). 

9. How many submissions per Judged Award Category can I enter?
You may enter UP TO TWO (2) submissions per award category. Submissions by co-creators count as one creator/member. Any submissions beyond the first two entries per category will be disqualified.

10. For JUDGED Awards, can I enter the SAME story/photo etc., in more than one (1) category?
NO.
A single submission can only be submitted once in one of the 12 Judged Award Categories.
Ie. If a member enters the SAME story/photo multiple times in different categories ALL entries of the same article/photo/book etc. will be disqualified.
The (NEW) exception is if you submit a story with images in a written category, the images published with the story CAN be separately submitted under the visual categories.
*NOTE: If you submit a story or photo within the Judged Awards, you can submit it again (once) within the applicable Member Voted Awards.

11. Is there a FEE to submit for the Judged Awards?
YES...and NO. You may enter up to six (6) submissions in total. 
The first three (3) are FREE, each additional submissions is $25 per entry.
An invoice for the additional submissions will be issued to the member for payment following the Judged Awards deadline. This fee must be paid prior to Award finalists being announced in May. 
*NOTE: There is no fee to submit for Member Voted Awards nor Chapter Awards

12. Are Co-Creators or Co-Authors eligible to enter? What if there is more than one author, and not all are TMAC members?
YES. Each of the two named individuals under our Co-Creator Membership Category are eligible to submit for any award, under their own name, NOTING only work done exclusively by TMAC members is eligible.
EXCEPTIONS:
a) It is understood that entries in the Emerging and Broadcast Media Award category may be created by teams. In this event, to be eligible, the creative lead on the project must be a TMAC Member.
b) (When offered) Travel Books must be either authored by a TMAC member, or in the case of co-author (s) the submitting TMAC member must have contributed no less than 40% of the book and must be the author of the excerpt for the submission. 

13. Do I need to have my 2024 Membership paid to enter the Awards?
YES, your 2024 TMAC membership dues must be paid in full prior to submitting for the TMAC Awards.
Need to renew? Media renew here; Industry renew here. 

14. Is there a chance that any of the Award Categories could be 'cancelled'?
Yes, there is a minimum of 10 entries required in each Award Category to be considered active. If this threshold is not met at the time of Award Submission closing, the category will be removed from the slate of awards for that year.

15. Who judges the 'JUDGED' Award Categories?
Annually, your TMAC National Awards Committee, as part of their work in curating the TMAC Awards program, seeks out and secures a panel of judges for our Awards. These individuals have expertise and experience related to the categories they will be judging. Independent from TMAC, judges are selected from outside our TMAC Membership, to eliminate baise. They are instructed to review each submission independently against the criteria and scoring matrix as provided. Judges are paired up with at least one other judge for each category, their final scores are combined, those scores then determine our top five finalists, and our winners.
MEET OUR JUDGING PANEL (TBA).

16. Are judges independent?
YES. Judges are external to TMAC. Once they are provided with orientation, and login access to the submissions within the categories they have been assigned, they review and evaluate independently of TMAC, except for contact with the CAO, they are not in communication with the TMAC Awards Committee nor the board of Directors.
Each category has no less than two judges who review/score independently before coming together to review their independent final scores which determine winners. Bilingualism is ensured within our Judging panel.
NOTE: TMAC members are not permitted to be a Judge.

17. Do the judges have a scoring matrix?
YES.
There is a Scoring Matrix for each award. These have always been used to guide the review and evaluation of submissions by the judges.
NEW FOR 2023:
The scoring matrix used by the judges will be shared with TMAC members when the Awards Program is launched on January 15/23.

18. Are submissions made anonymously and can submission anonymity be retained to reduce bias by Judges?
With intention, TMAC National takes every effort to reduce bias. While anonymity in submissions, specifically ensuring authors byline is excluded, is desirable, given the digital footprint and links used (and required) for many award categories, it has become virtually impossible, especially for submissions within our Travel Book, Self-Published Travel Websites, All Media Forms, and Multimedia categories.

In addition to instructing and requiring Judges to ignore and eliminate consideration of authors, and discourage ‘googling’ titles, submissions are anonymously listed by an identification number which accompanies the title of the submission.
NOTE: TMAC is not the only association removing anonymity from the Awards Program. Investigation into ‘anonymous’ software programs/services to support the awards program are beyond TMAC’s fiscal capacity and are not easily integrated within our current CRM.

19. Are members of the TMAC Awards Committee, Board Members and other Volunteers within TMAC eligible to submit for awards?YES. Integrity and professionalism is of utmost importance to TMAC National at all levels and this is the case within our TMAC Awards as well. TMAC is fueled by volunteers, with nearly 50 of them serving on various committees. We recognize that eligibility to participate and be recognized within our TMAC Awards Program is important to all members – industry and media.

Organizationally, once the judging begins, the management of the program is administered by the TMAC CAO. Volunteers are removed from the process  at that stage to eliminate conflict of interest. The Awards Committee and National Board of Directors are removed from the date the award program opens for submissions, until the finalists are announced to all members.

We value, respect and appreciate our volunteers, their professionalism and commitment to integrity.
Should a volunteer determine they prefer to refrain from participating in the program, they are welcome to do so.

20. What are the prizes for the Winners of the Awards?
There are cash prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners as noted below, along with certificates for these and honourable mentions.

• First prize for each category: $650
• Second prize for each category: $400 
• Third prize for each category: $200

21. When are the Winners of the TMAC Awards Announced?
The TMAC Awards will be presented, with winners announced, at our annual Awards Gala at our TMAC Conference and Media Marketplace.
In 2024, this will be June 15 in St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador. Those not in attendance will be mailed their certificate, monetary prizes are e-transferred within a week of the awards presentation.  

An official Media Release will be issued by TMAC announcing the winners within 3 days following the Awards Gala.

22. Is there a limit on how many awards a member can win?
NO. Submissions are judged by an external panel of judges. To reduce possible ‘sweeping’ of awards, in 2022 we reduced the number of submissions a member could submit to a maximum of 6 (reduced from 10) reducing the volume of submissions from a single member. The goal was to increase the number of participants and offer judges more variety from members to be considered. In 2022, under Judged Award categories we welcomed 13% more submissions (389), from 19% more members (108 members).
Submission guidelines for members include:

• Maximum limit of 2 submissions per category
• Maximum limit of up to 6 submissions in total per member in good standing
• Members are unable to submit the ‘same’ story in two different categories to avoid the potential of the same story winning in two categories.
  NEW as of 2023: Photos from a story submitted under written categories are permitted to be submitted under photo categories
• Judges are instructed to review/evaluate based on the work scores against the scoring matrix.
  NEW for 2024: Scoring Matrix for each category will be shared with members when the Awards OPEN for submissions. 
• Sponsored/Partner Content submissions are eligible, they are eligible for accreditation, therefore they qualify for awards.
  Authorship is required, byline is not.

AWARD SUBMISSION DETAILS/REQUIREMENTS

TMAC Awards require the member to submit their entry by completing the online Award Submission Form (Will have active link when Awards Open Jan 15/24). 

The online form will request/prompt you to provide confirmation of Title of Submission, Date of Submission, related links or file uploads to your submission - the process is very similar to your original application or re-qualification process.
IMPORTANT: All requirements, as outlined below and when prompted online must be provided.
Failure to do so, will disqualify your submission.

**REMINDERS**

• Anonymous Submissions NOT Required:
  Anonymous Submissions NOT Required: A separate 'judges' copy with your name removed (an anonymous copy) is not required. Given the increased use of URLs and the categories that involve digital media, we cannot secure anonymity. Retaining the integrity of our judging and evaluation program, our Judges will continue to undertake their reviews and evaluations of submissions based on the submission itself - the author of any submission is not relevant to our Judges.  
• New this year for written categories PDF is required: 
  URLs will not be accepted as many have paywalls which prevent us and the judges from accessing your submission. If we cannot access it, it cannot be judged. As well, many stories have been turned in as low-quality JPEGS--making them difficult to read. Uploading a PDF of your submission addresses both issues and therefore is now required for ALL written submissions. (The free Adobe Scan mobile app works on your mobile device as a photo and document scanner that creates PDFs and automatically recognizes text.) 
• URLS:
  In the case of URLs for blogs and multimedia submissions, you will be limited to 128 characters. If your link is longer, please use a link shortening software like bitly or Short URL, or your preferred shortener. (Please note we are not recommending which software to use.)
  PDFs/JPEGS:
• When uploading a PDF or an image you will be asked for a jpeg, jpg, png or PDF - maximum file size is 56MB. Please do be mindful of the quality/resolution of your submission - what you submit will be reviewed by the judges.
• PDF or high resolution JPEG of submissions published within Newspapers and Magazines are required.
  URLs will not be accepted as many have paywalls which prevent us and the judges from accessing your submission. If we cannot access it, it cannot be judged. Uploading a PDF addresses this issue and therefore are required.
• ALL files for submissions must be uploaded within the forms, third party file transfer platforms will not be used.
• Label Your Files: Uploaded files will be assigned a file name based on YOUR name, Category and Submission TITLE, however, we ask that you LABEL your files with YOUR Name, and the NAME of the Submission. 
• DO NOT use emojis in your file names, titles etc., it will deliver an error message for your submission, disqualifying your submission.
   

1. WRITTEN WORD entries:
Submit one PDF in the field when prompted to in the online form. Entry must demonstrate the title of the submission, publication name and date.

2. SELF-PUBLISHED TRAVEL WEBSITE (includes blog) entries:
Provide the URLs of the three (3) blog/story entries that you wish to have judged, noting that the overall site will be taken into consideration by the judges. 

3. VISUAL entries:
Please make sure that your photos are labelled properly, with your Name, Title of the Image.
You will be required to upload the images, as jpeg, jpg or PDF documents, within the online form (transfer of files via WeTransfer will not be accepted). Links to images will not be accepted.
NEW for 2023: You will be required to pro vide a 25-50 word description to accompany your visual submission to provide the judges with context, this will also be used in TMAC communications surrounding the awards.

4. BEST PHOTO SERIES entries:
Upload four (4) images from one story to be considered for this Award Category. You need not have been the author of the written words accompanying this story. All images must have been included within the same story - not from a collection of separate stories.

5. ALL MEDIA FORMS Award Categories: 
Submit one PDF for articles, if the submission is within asocial media/video provide a URL in the field when prompted to in the online form. Entry must demonstrate the title of the submission, publication name and date. 

5. EMERGING & BROADCAST MEDIA entries:
Submissions will come in many forms, from links to uploads. For this reason, entrants in this category submit a maximum two page PDF describing the project, including any relevant links. Please submit your PDF, along with any other relevant media using the uploading options or URL option as prompted. ENSURE THEY ARE LABELED reflecting your name and the name of the submission.
FOR ALL REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS SUBMISSION CATEGORY, REFER TO THE AWARD DESCRIPTION

**BOOKS ARE NOTE INCLUDED WITHIN the 2023 awards for 2024. This category as outlined below will be brought back in 2025 and will require judges copies of the books to be provided. (subject to change)
 

• TRAVEL BOOK entries:
  Submit 4 copies of the Book, along with one (1) PDF document which includes; cover of the book, table of contents, 200-500 word synopsis of the book and one chapter (2000 word maximum) OR up to a 2000 word excerpt. If this is not adhered to, your submission will be disqualified.
  
  REMINDER: Books must be first-edition OR substantially revised editions, published after January 2018 and is either authored by a TMAC member, or in the case of co-author (s) the submitting TMAC member must have contributed no less than 40% of the book and must be the author of the excerpt for the submission. 

BY SUBMITTING YOUR WORK,  AS A TMAC MEMBER IN GOOD STANDING:
 

• If you win, you agree to allow TMAC to use your entries for promotional purposes at no charge.
• TMAC reserves the right to add or remove categories at any point during the Awards competition at its discretion. Any member who has submitted in those categories will be advised immediately and any charges will be reimbursed. All members will be notified.
• The decisions of the award judges and award administrators are final.
• You acknowledge, the deadline for submitting your entries for the 2023 TMAC Awards is February 15, 2024.
• You acknowledge and confirm that the work submitted meets the guidelines and criteria as described for the TMAC Awards and their eligibility for membership qualification.

TMAC MEMBER VOTED AWARDS and CHAPTER AWARDS

For information on Member Voted Awards please refer to the appropriate page here on our website - noting this needs to be updated for 2024.
TIMELINE For Submissions (subject to change)
OPEN for submissions: TBA
CLOSED for submissions:TBA
WINNERS announced at TMAC Awards Gala on June 15 during Conference in Sudbury, Ontario.

GUIDELINES Specific to MEMBER VOTED AWARDS:

Please note that the 2023 Awards are presented in 2024 but are based on work performed/completed in 2023.

Q. Do nominees have to be members of the Travel Media Association of Canada (TMAC) or can they be anyone?
A: Nominees must be TMAC members whose membership fees are fully paid for 2024 BEFORE submissions are eligible to be submitted.

Q. Can I nominate myself or does someone else have to nominate me?
A:  For ALL Award Categories as the member, you can only submit your own work for consideration - no one can submit on your behalf.
*EXCEPTION: Industry Member of the Year and Volunteer of the Year which are nomination based.

Q. Do my entries have to have been published?
A: YES for Media, NO for Industry.
If you are a media member submitting for and Award, YES, the entry for all categories are subject to our Media Membership Criteria. Submissions must have appeared in a publication or digital posting between January 1, 2023 - December 31, 2023, except within the People's Choice Photo of the Year Category (Industry and Media Member submissions welcomed). 
NOTING your submissions MUST MEET the Media Membership accreditation requirements.

Q. Can I re-enter a submission that did not win in 2023 but was published within the time period?
A: NO.

Q. I have a story or image that I'd like to submit for one of the 12 'JUDGED' categories, but would also like to submit it for one of the 'MEMBER VOTED ' categories - can I?
A. YES.  Photos entered in Judged Categories are eligible under the People's Choice Photo of the Year Award. AND if you have submitted your maximum of 6 entries in the Judged Awards, the Member Voted and Chapter Awards are considered separate and therefore you are eligible to submit.

Q: How do I submit my entry(ies)?
A: Please use the online 2023 TMAC Awards Entry Form (LINK will be live when awards open)

HAVE ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS?

We want you to be as informed as possible, if you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to administration@travelmedia.ca.