FAQ on new CotY online entry system: Images

Think Differently About CotY

Since the beginning of the CotY program, binders have been used as the tool for entrants to present their entries, as do many other industry awards programs. Until fairly recently, that’s been the only way for entrants to lay out their projects in easy-to-follow formats that judges could easily understand.

However, there’s considerable cost to using the binder presentation method for both the entrant and for NARI. After an extensive search for a solution, we chose a provider to help us move this program to an online platform.  Entrants can now work on their CotY projects right up until the deadline if necessary—and for the first time in the history of the program, they can choose from early bird, standard and late entry deadlines.

Although many will welcome this new process, others will need to make adjustments to how they approach their project entry. Wherever you are on the learning curve, we are here to help you.

We will be providing periodic Q&As to help you manage using this new system.

Managing Images

Since launching the 2014 CotY Awards online, the majority of the questions we’re hearing involve managing images.

Q: Why does NARI only allow 25 pages for the online entry instead of 30 pages as we used to have in the binder?

A: Because the majority of our entrants used far fewer than 30 pages, we took the page limit down a bit. In addition, it was important for us to keep the cost of entering the same as we have for the past 10 years, and adding additional storage capacity would have increased the cost.

Each image must be a high-quality JPEG, resolution of at least 300 dpi, a minimum size of 4 x 6 (1200 x 1800 pixels) and no larger than 6 MB. Each PDF document should also be no larger than 6 MB.  Most of the images we have been collecting during past CotY programs already fit well within these criteria. This also works well for the digital promotion of the award winners.

Q:  I used to combine smaller images on one page to show in-process work or details that didn’t warrant using a full 8 x 10. Can I still do this?

A:  Yes you can. You’ll need to utilize another program to create a new image file and it’s pretty easy to do. There are many image managing programs available and many of them are free, such as PicMonkey.  Microsoft Office users can easily use Publisher or PowerPoint for this. Open the program and insert the images you’d like to display, sizing and placing them as you like.  Then save the page as a JPG image. Open the image with Microsoft Picture manager to be sure the image does not exceed the maximum size.

Q  I see I have the option of including captions below each image I upload, but I’d rather have them displayed right on my image. Can I put my captions right on my pictures?

A:  Yes you can.  Using the steps outlined above and inserting text boxes prior to saving the JPG file.  We discourage you from inserting text directly on the image so the words don’t distract from what you are trying to present. In addition, we won’t use an image for promotion or recognition that has words written across it. Also, after judging, we may need to contact some of our entrants to obtain larger photos for presentation purposes.

CotY Deadlines

Early bird – $150.00 – November 1, 2013
Standard – $160.00 – December 2, 2013
Late Entry – $185.00 – December 9, 2013

 Entries must be paid and submitted (submitting is the final step) by the dates shown to take advantage of pricing.

Questions or comments? Contact awards@nari.org

| 10/18/2013 12:00:00 AM | 1 comments
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