Awards

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

Technical Requirements

New in 2010!
You will have the option to upload online or use an FTP client of your choice. Once you have completed the entry process, you will receive an e-mail from RTDNA summarizing your entry, including your Entry ID. Once you have this information, you can visit the Upload Site, create a profile and upload your media.

Uploading Media

You have three choices when uploading your media:

1) Uploading Online: If you choose the Uploading Online Option, you can click 'Browse' and find the file on your computer, just like you do when attaching a document to an e-mail. This option should be used for smaller files (smaller then 1 GB or 1024 MB). Check the size of the file before you upload.

2) Uploading using an FTP Client: This method can be used for any size file. However, you have to have an FTP program on your computer. Filezilla is a good choice, it can be found here.

Once you download the Client Version of Filezilla, click on 'Get Login Credentials' on the Upload Site, use that information to log on to Filezilla and drag and drop the file into the FTP. There is a tab on the bottom of the Filezilla program called 'Successful Transfers'. Once your file has been transferred, it should be listed in this tab. You can confirm that it was uploaded in the 'Uploaded Files' section of the Upload Site.

3) Providing Links: If the media for your entry lives online, you can provide the links for judging. However, this media is subject to all the same editing and time requirements that uploaded media is. Click here for time limits and editing requirements for all the categories. If the media submitted for an entry is too long or is edited incorrectly, it will be disqualified.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

Should you have any problems uploading the media, you can submit a Trouble Ticket in the upper right hand corner of the Upload Site.

You will have the opportunity to view/hear the file that you uploaded after it's uploaded to ensure that it's the right file, it looks/sounds good, etc.

All media must be submitted by one of the three ways above. Mailed CD's/DVD's will not be accepted.

When uploading media, please note that you can only upload ONE piece of media per entry. For Continuing Coverage, Overall Excellence, News Series or any category that requires multiple reports, you need to edit those multiple reports together and submit the entry as ONE entry. Do NOT submit multiple pieces of media for one entry.

Completing the Upload Process

Once you've uploaded your media, go to 'Uploaded Files' and click 'Link to Entry'. This is where you assign the media to the entry - go to the e-mail you received from RTDNA and enter the Entry ID number to the media. The upload process is not complete until this happens.

Requirements for Upload

--Java must be installed if using the Uploading Online option
--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, .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: ..avi, .mpeg or .mpg. No video in any format other than .flv, .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

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

- 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 - all video files will be converted to 320 px x 240 px.
-Name files as simply as possible with no special characters or spaces.