Annual Contest FAQs

With shifts in graduation credits, AP and IB course offerings, curriculum standards, and administrators placing greater emphasis on testing, advisers need every possible resource to promote their programs and remain afloat. JEANC aims to promote “the good things happening” in scholastic journalism.

Q: Why is the contest deadline before the end of the year?
A: The April 1 contest deadline gives members an opportunity to enter student work and receive recognition in the same year that the work was created. Certificates arrive at schools before seniors leave town.

Q: When will winners be notified?
A: Winners will be notified in May, and winning work will be showcased on the JEANC website with all contest results.

Q: In what format should we submit our work?
A: Entries can be submitted as either PDFs or URLs, depending on whether the entry was created in print or digital media. Video/Broadcast entries must be submitted as URLs. Entries may not be submitted in print.

Q: How should we submit our work?
A: Here’s the step-by-step process:

❑ Begin by reviewing the contest categories and guidelines, organizing your entries, and checking the file names and sizes of your PDFs, which should be under 4 MB. Fewer is better. (Pro tip: Share the contest categories URL with your students. Create a Google form into which staff members can select their best work and include the URLs or PDFs of their work, depending on the requirements of the contest.)

❑ Ensure that files are named CONTESTprefix&#_SchoolName_StudentLastName(s)_1.pdf for the first entry in a contest or CONTESTprefix&#_SchoolName_StudentLastName(s)_2.pdf for the second entry in the same contest by a different student.

A yearbook entry for the endsheet/divider/colophon contest for Michelle Gantos, Richard Harris and Jennifer Jung (three students) would look like this:
Y13_BalszHS_Gantos-Harris-Jung)_1.pdf
Adding “HS,” “Prep,” “Acad” or another abbreviation that better identifies your school helps out the folks who are recording and mailing out awards.

❑ Once you are ready, go to the entry form to provide your school information, submit your entries, and select your payment method. (And, if you don’t have a current JEANC membership, you can do that inside the entry form.)

Q: What if I realize after I submit the entry form that I need to add more entries?
A: No problem. Simply complete another entry form and upload the additional files or URLs.

Remember that each member-adviser gets three free entries. (Note: Members who advise multiple publications do not qualify for additional free entries.) Our new order form will automatically credit you for the free entries when calculating your payment.

Q: How will entries be judged?
A: All complete entries received by the deadline will be judged together by category, regardless of the size of their school, publication or student staff.

Q: Who are the judges for this contest?
A: A variety of nationally award-winning advisers and professional journalists from outside California have been selected to rank entries for each category. No judges reside within California.

Q: Which publications are eligible to enter?
A: Current member-advisers who live and/or work within the geographical region defined by the JEANC Bylaws (“the area contained within the Pacific Ocean on the West, the Nevada border on the East, the Oregon border on the North, and inclusive of San Luis Obispo, Kern and Inyo counties on the South”) may enter their students’ yearbook, general news publication (print or online), social media and online-only/broadcast work. Any work published April 2, 2025 — April 1, 2026 is eligible for entry in this year’s contest. You may submit up to two entries per contest per publication, provided they are not from the same student. Advisers who are submitting work for more than publication (say, two different news magazines with different staffs) will need to fill out a registration form for each publication if they are entering three or more students (two from one publication and up to two in a second publication) in the same contest. Yearbooks will be submitting work that has not yet been published, but was completed within the April 2-to-April 1 period, which will include work for your 2025-26 book that has not yet been delivered.

Q: I’m not a current JEANC member, or I’m not sure if I renewed this year. What should I do?
A: The submission form lists all of the current JEANC members as of Feb. 25, 2026. If your name is not on the list, you will be charged for a JEANC membership ($35) at checkout. Please do not purchase a membership on the website membership page to enter this contest, as your registration will not populate into that form.

Q: What are the contest categories?
A: You can view and print descriptions of all of the contest categories by viewing the contest categories and guidelines. Note that we have many new contests this year, including an entire category for middle school students.

Additional questions? E-mail [email protected]