Awards

Edward R. Murrow and RTNDA/UNITY Awards - Technical Requirements

Technical Requirements

New in 2009! RTNDA has gone entirely digital. All submission of entries will be done online and the media uploaded for judging. This means you won’t have to burn your work to CD’s or DVD’s for mailing. If during the process you have difficulties uploading your media, you’re not sure what category a particular piece should be entered in, you’re not sure you’re a member, etc., please refer to the staff contact list below.

REQUIREMENTS FOR UPLOAD:

Java must be installed
Pop-Up blockers disabled

AUDIO REQUIREMENTS:

All audio files must be .mp3. Audio in any format other than .mp3 will not be accepted.

VIDEO REQUIREMENTS:

All video files must be one of the following formats: .flv, .wmv, .avi, .mpeg or .mpg. Please note: all files will be converted to .flv. The quality of the original file is not important as it will be converted to an .flv file upon upload. Due to technical issues with our upload process, .mov file types are not stable during the upload process and should be converted to another file type listed above.

The preferred format for video files is .flv. If your media is not in flash video, it will automatically convert when uploading from the following formats: .wmv, .avi, .mpeg or .mpg. No video in any format other than .flv, .wmv, .avi, .mpeg or .mpg will be accepted.

Need to convert your video to .flv? Below are just a few free converters to help you. We suggest you do your own search and you should find quite a few options:

http://www.mov-avi.com/videoconverter/index23.html
http://vixy.net/
http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/products/dvd/Free-Video-to-Flash-Converter.htm

Please click on the link in your confirmation e-mail you receive and follow the steps for uploading.

For more information on time requirements and eligibility, see this chart.

PLEASE NOTE: The quality of the original file is not important as all files will be converted to .flv upon upload. Judges are instructed to judge the quality of the story, not the video quality of the entry. Judges will watch all the entries on a computer and are expecting the quality of all the entries to be no better than that of a standard internet video.

Important Points to Keep in Mind

-Use Internet Explorer as your browser during uploading. Other browsers work but preferences have to be set to allow the uploader to work correctly.
- Keep file sizes to less than 1gb, if possible.
- Keep the screen resolution to 480 x 600 or smaller (to help keep file size down).
- Do NOT use a dial-up connection - use at least a Cable modem or a Corporate connection where possible.
- An FLV file will be the most compressed file type - and this file does not have to be converted, so it eliminates the risk of failing during conversion - to that end, upload a FLV file where possible.
- Name files as simply as possible with no special characters or spaces.

RTNDA Staff/Board Contact Information

Stacey Staniak
RTNDA staff
staceys@rtnda.org
202.467.5214

Tara Sheehan
RTNDA Staff
taras@rtnda.org
202.467.5203

Marny Klump
RTNDA Staff
marnyk@rtnda.org
202.467.5202

Ed Esposito
RTNDA Chairman
eesposito@rcrg.net or edespositoRTNDA@roadrunner.com
216.219.6432

Bill Roswell
RTNDA Board Member
roswell@kyw.com
215.350.3714

Chip Mahaney
513.432.6565

Randy Bell
601.946.0468

Kathy Walker
720.373.8084