Rules

Please Read Carefully

The Neal Awards competition is open to editorial staff of B2B media companies.

The Neal Awards are platform agnostic, unless otherwise noted. They recognize the integration of various print, digital and/or live platforms in B2B journalism. Many categories allow, or even require, examples from more than one format.

Entry Cost

Early Bird Deadline: January 31, 2021 - $160
Regular Deadline: February 21, 2021 - $210
Extended Deadline: March 7, 2021 -$260

Revenue Class

Categories 1-5, 7, 9, 11-13, 15, 17, 19-20 require entries in one of three classes of gross (print and online) advertising/circulation revenue:

• Class A - less than $3 million
• Class B - $3 million - $7 million
• Class C - more than $7 million

Revenue is based on the media brand's revenue and not the parent company's revenue.

Submissions in Categories 6, 8, 10,14, 16, 18, 21-24 require no revenue figures.

Two or more titles from the same publishing company that produce work jointly may enter as a team under the revenue classification of the larger title.

VIEW CATEGORIES

Publication Requirements

All entries (print and digital) must have been published in a publication from January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020 and distributed to the title's full regular circulation. Limited-distribution show dailies do not qualify. All links must be live and available through standard Web browsers at the time of judging. Entries for registration-restricted websites must include login/password information for the judges. Links that are not working during the judging period will not be judged. If you are a finalist, the links must be active until June 9, 2021. 

In Category 2 (Best Series), a series with installments before or after the above dates may be entered in its entirety only if at least 50% of the series appeared within the competition period.

Material that has been published previously in any other publication or edition is NOT eligible. Only the original published or posted version may be submitted.

All entries must be in English.

Code of Ethics

Advertorials and content supplied or directed by an advertiser are ineligible. Any content that is sponsored or any editorial material that runs with an advertiser's logo must comply with Section II-6 of Connectiv's Editorial Code of Ethics. Any advertorial or sponsored content must be properly and clearly identified as a message paid for by an advertiser. Failure to include such labeling is in violation of the Connectiv Constitution and By-Laws, and such entries will be disqualified. If you feel there is any compelling reason why sponsored editorial should not be labeled as advertising, please make those reasons clear in the background statement on the entry form.

Materials submitted from websites should not hyperlink editorial content to advertising or other sponsored material.

All entries must adhere to the Connectiv Editorial Code of Ethics.

Multiple Entries

Only two entries may be submitted in any category.

Rights and Permissions

All winners will be posted on the Neal Awards website. For any winning entry to be posted we first need you to warrant that you own the rights in the content and images we will post on the site and for you to grant SIIA the authority to post the content and images. Therefore, you must check the rights and permissions agreement box on your entry form. 

2021 Neal Awards Timeline

NOMINATE JAN 5- MAR 7	Early Nominations	January 5 – 31, 2021
	Regular Nominations	February 1 – 21, 2021
	Extended Nomination Period	February 22 – March 7, 2021
EVALUATE MAR 17 - APR 30	First Round Judging	March 17 – April 2, 2021
	Second Round Judging	April 12 – 16, 2021  (live via zoom April 16)
	Third Round Judging	April 26 – 30, 2021 (live via zoom April 29 & 30)
CELEBRATE MAY 10 - JUN 9	Finalists Announced	May 10, 2021
	Neal Awards Virtual Ceremony	June 9, 2021

Deadlines & Notification

Early Bird entries will be accepted through January 31, 2021. Regular entries will be accepted through February 21, 2021, and SIIA staff will not correct errors or alert you to problems with an entry submitted after this deadline. The final deadline for entries is March 7, 2021.

All entries must be paid online at siia.net/neals by 11:59 p.m. PST, March 7, 2021. All payments must be paid online via credit card (American Express, MasterCard or Visa). Checks are not accepted as payment.

All finalists will be notified of their status. Award winners and the winner of the Grand Neal will be announced at the Neal Awards virtual ceremony on June 9, 2021.

Any inquiries about the final results should be addressed to nealawards@siia.net. Decisions of the Committee and the Judging Board are final in all matters pertaining to the Neal Awards. 

No refunds will be issued for any reason.

Staff Acknowledgement

List the names and titles of the editors responsible for the material submitted. Please note that the list of names cannot be changed after the submission of the entry. If appropriate, you may acknowledge the full staff by indicating "Editorial Staff."

No more than eight individuals may be listed. Production staff and designers (art directors, photographers, videographers, web producers etc.) may be included; publishers who do not carry editorial titles are ineligible. A single entry may not acknowledge both “Editorial Staff” and named individuals.