TPA Ideas Contest

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The Tennessee Press Association Ideas Contest is an annual competition for advertising and circulation departments. The awards are presented during the TPA Advertising/Circulation Conference.

Ideas Contest deadline is Jan. 22, 2010
It’s time to enter the 2010 Ideas Contest, Tennessee Press Association’s contest for advertising and circulation ideas.
The deadline is Friday, Jan. 22, 2010. entry packet

The deadline is a few days earlier than usual; however, the entries must be postmarked by the deadline, not arrive at TPA by the date.
Awards will be presented during the Advertising/Circulation Conference, which is tentatively scheduled for April 16.

First through third places are awarded in five divisions of each category, and there is a Best of Show Award.

All entrants will receive CDs containing images of the winners.
Entry fees are $6 per entry. All proceeds are used to support the educational programming of the Advertising/Circulation Conference.
The contest has 27 categories and five divisions based on circulation.

The categories are as follows:

ADVERTISING
•Best Special Section
•Best Sales Promotion for an Advertiser
•Best Use of Multi-Color Ad
•Best Use of Single Color Ad
•Best Black & White Ad
•Best Feature Page or Pages
•Best 1/4 Page or Smaller Ad
•Best Food Store Ad
•Best Automotive Ad
•Best Real Estate Ad
•Best Furniture and/or Appliance Ad
•Best Internet Banner or Tile Ad for an Advertiser
•Best Classified Section

CIRCULATION
•Best Subscription Promotion Idea
•Best Carrier Contest Idea
•Best Single Copy Promotion
•Best NIE Promotion
•Best Carrier Recruitment
•Best Overall Web site
•Best NIE Sponsorship Recruitment
•Best Dealer/Vendor Promotion
•Best Bulk Promotion
•Reader Contest
•Best Subscriber Retention Program
•Best Internet Subscription Promotion

OTHER
•Best Self-Promotion of a Newspaper
•Best Rack Card
•Best Overall Web site
The divisions are as follows:
(N-1) Non-daily with a paid circulation less than 5,000
(N-2) Non-daily with a paid circulation of 5,000 or above
(D-1) Daily with a paid circulation less than 10,000
(D-2) Daily with a paid circulation of 10,000 but less than 25,000
(D-3) Daily with a paid circulation of 25,000 or above

The entry packet is available online and was mailed to all member newspapers on Dec. 17. One can contact TPA at (865) 584-5761 for an entry packet or download the forms at www.tnpress.com.

2009 Ideas Contest winners

2008 Ideas Contest winners

2007 Ideas Contest winners

2006 Ideas Contest winners

2009 Ideas Contest winners announced, Overton County News takes top prize

Sandra Shelton, TPA Advertising Committee Chairman, presents the 2009 Best of Show award to Darren Oliver, the Overton County News. Oliver’s “Read… It does the mind good” entry for self-promotion was judged the best of the 1,095 entries.

Awards in the 2009 Tennessee Press Association Ideas Contest were presented on Friday, April 3, in conjunction with the Advertising/Circulation Conference in Franklin, Tenn. List of winners

The Overton County News won the top prize—the Jack Freeland Memorial Award Best of Show— for its self-promotion ad, “Read…It does a mind good.” The judges’ comments included, “Clean - great use of white space. Conveys message.”

Runners-up were the Herald and Tribune, Jonesborough, for its “Show Down” special section and the Shelbyville Times-Gazette for its “This Christmas” subscription promotion.

The Shelbyville Times-Gazette received the most awards at 40, sweeping the awards in its division for Best Use of Multi Color, Best Feature Page, Best 1⁄4 Page or Smaller Ad, Best Food Store Ad, Best Single Copy Promotion and Best NIE Promotion. The Tennessean achieved the second highest number of awards at 24.

Members of the Kentucky Press Association judged the contest on March 6 in Elizabethtown, Ky.

A total of 1,095 entries from 41 newspapers were submitted in the 2009 Ideas Contest. The contest has 27 categories, with each divided into five circulation divisions, two for non-dailies and three for dailies.

Jack Freeland, for whom the Best of Show award was named, was advertising manager of The Daily Herald, Columbia, and was active with the TPA Advertising Committee. Carson Oliver, publisher of the Overton County News, won the first Jack Freeland Memorial Award in 1981 while with the Livingston Enterprise.

The Ideas Contest was established in 1978. The Ideas Contest proceeds help to offset the speaker costs for the Advertising/Circulation Conference. All conference attendees and Ideas Contest entrants will receive a CD of the PowerPoint presentation.

TPA is a primary media sponsor of the Governor's Books from Birth Foundation Imagination Library project.