June 2014 Archives

Today we introduce a new series on the blog called "How'd They Do That?". The idea is to give you some behind-the-scenes insight into how all those amazing magazine pages come to life. "Did they draw that themselves or hire an illustrator?" "Was that part of the actual photo shoot or retouched later?" "What's that font?" "How'd they come up with that idea?" Those are the questions we're looking to answer. If you see something cool out there in magazine-world, send us a note about it to SPDStudentOutreach@gmail.com and we'll try to dig into it and get you the scoop on how they made it happen.

SPD-U: No. Each entry can only be a single page, or a double-page spread. No more than that. So if you designed a story or whole publication that has more than 3 pages or double-page spreads, then pick your best 3 pages/spreads of those and enter each of them as 1 entry. If you submit more than 3 single page or double-page spreads, we will select the first 3 pages/spreads you submit as your entry and ignore the rest. It doesn't matter if the pages/spreads you enter don't seem to make sense content-wise by omitting the other pages. Our judges are evaluating each page/spread as a single entity based on its design and will overlook any confusion on content.

SPD-U: Per student. Each student is allowed 3 entries. All 3 entries must be approved by their teacher or school official. Teacher/school officials can approve as many of their students' entries as they're willing to sign off on, no limits.

Q: Can I enter one spread from one project and another spread from a different project? Do the entries need to be related? 

SPD-U: No, your entries do NOT need to be related. In fact, every single entry will be seen randomized with all the others for each judge, so each entry is seen as a single individual piece and no one will see all 3 of your entries in a row (in addition, all entries are seen anonymously without any identifying info). So yes, it's perfectly fine for your 3 entries to all come from different projects.

SPD-U: Yes! You can definitely submit the "jump" spread or ANY page/spread from ANY part of your story/publication. If you did a great infographic or sidebar or just love what you did on your story's 2nd or 3rd spread, then definitely enter that regardless of whether you also enter the opening spread. Every entry will be seen individually by our judges, so it's really all about what designs do their jobs best, regardless of where they fall in the story. Our judges know publication design well, so they'll be able to overlook any confusion about the content/story as they judge your design. 

GOT MORE QUESTIONS? Be sure to check out more of our FAQ here on the main info page or email us at SPDUspotlight@gmail.com. We'll do our best to respond quickly, but remember the deadline is 5pm TODAY, so better to use your best judgement based on the info we've provided and get your entries in on time rather than wait for us to answer. 

Judging starts next week and all winners will be notified by July 1. We'll then announce the winners here on the blog in the days following.

Good luck!!

It's so easy (you don't have to actually do work, you just submit the work you already did through email!), it's FREE ... AND we just gave you more time to enter! Our new deadline is this Friday, June 6 at 5pm EST.