The Best of Multimedia Design
Judging Procedures
Judges for the competition are journalism, new media and design experts from around the world.
The competition year runs from July through June.
There are two types of judging each competition year:
Quarterly Competition
There are about 15-20 judges for each quarterly competition. Each judge is randomly assigned an equal number of entries to assess. No judges are assigned entries to evaluate if any conflicts of interest are apparent.
Judges submit their scores and comments for each assignment online in the "Virtual Judging Room." Quarterly winners are announced within two months of the quarterly competition deadline.
IMPORTANT: Quarterly winners are automatically eligible for the annual awards. You MUST win a quarterly award to compete in the annual competition.
Annual Competition
Between seven and 10 of the judges involved in the quarterly competitions meet at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill in late August or early September of each year. They choose the annual winners from the pool of quarterly winners.
Winning entries may receive an Award of Excellence, or the judges may choose to award Silver or Gold medals for outstanding work in each category. No entry can win more than one of these awards. An additional Judges' Special Recognition award may be given to any winner, or for a body of work, when the Judges believe an entry is truly exceptional. Judges may also select a Best of Show. At the discretion of the judges, there may be no awards given.
Nominating judges
SND invites suggestions and nominations for judges. Self-nominations are welcome. To make a nomination, send an e-mail to competition coordinator Laura Ruel (lruel@unc.edu). Please include the e-mail and snail mail address of your nominee and a brief description of his or her qualifications.