Happy “JAGmas” Season!

by George Fairfield, JAG Awards Committee, Chair

Tis the season to begin getting your JAG Award entries ready for submission…even more so than in prior years, because there are several changes that will affect your registration and submission.

First, your registration: The registration will still open on January 1, 2024 but the deadline to have all your entries registered is January 31, 2024. 

Second, your submissions: All entry submissions must be uploaded by February 15, 2024 and your video highlights will need to be uploaded by February 29, 2024. 

Be sure to mark these dates on your calendar.

And speaking of your entry submissions, there are changes to what you will need to submit.  After listening to our judges and members of JAG, it has been decided that each upload is not to be any longer than 10 minutes.

If the entry is 10 minutes or less, you will simply submit the entire video/program.

If the program is over 10 minutes, you will submit a video consisting of the opening of the program, a portion from the middle of the program, and the closing of the program, minus any credits unless they are part of the closing, with the entire run time not to exceed 10 minutes.

Each section of the “Over 10 Minute” entry must be clearly separated as follows:

1. begin with the Opening Section:  at a time of your choosing, fade to black

2. followed by 10 seconds of black

3. then fade up into the middle section; at a time of your choosing, fade to black

4. followed by 10 seconds of black

5. then fade up into the ending section: at a time of your choosing, fade to black

6. the entire entry (all three sections) is not to exceed 10 minutes

How long each section will be is up to you but the committee suggests that you show your program in its best light possible.

The goal of this change is to help bridge the gap between the diverse programming produced by the member stations of JAG while leveling the judging plane plus help the judges have a better understanding of your entry.

You still must not re-edit the program sections themselves; the sections must appear as they were originally produced and cablecast. The JAG Awards committee is excited about the coming season and look forward to seeing everyone’s submissions.  For a complete list of rules, please visit the JAG Website at jagonline.org.  If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to the JAG Awards Committee Chair at gfairfield@piscatawaynj.org.