Excellence in Exhibition
Label-Writing Competition
AAM Annual Meeting 2009
Excellent
exhibition labels are clear, concise, and captivating. This combination is not
easily achieved, and the writers and editors who craft the best label copy
often go unrecognized. This competition is designed to showcase examples of great label
writing, identify innovative approaches to label writing and editing, define
best practices in the field, and help us learn from one another. This year’s label
writing competition is sponsored by CurCom in cooperation with EdCom and NAME.
Competition Guidelines
1. Submission deadline: Entries must be received by
Monday, November 3, 2008.
2. Eligibility requirements: Exhibition label writers and editors are eligible to
compete. You may nominate as many labels as you deem appropriate but are
limited to three labels per exhibition. Labels must have been included in an
exhibition that opened during the previous twenty-four months (between October
2006 and October 2008).
3. All entries must include all of the
components listed in the submission guidelines (see next page), including a
Word document or other text-only file of the label copy and a photograph of the
label on display in its exhibition.
4. Entries may be submitted by e-mail
or mail.
5. Entries submitted by e-mail may be formatted as Word documents, PDFs,
JPEGs, or a combination of these formats. High-quality jpegs are the preferred format for photographs. PDF and JPEG
files should be no larger than 5 MB; the preferred size is 8" x 10"
at 300 dpi. Title the subject of your e-mail “AAM label competition” and submit
it to nordstrom@chicagohistory.org. After submitting an entry electronically,
you will receive an e-mail confirmation of receipt. If you do not receive an
e-mail confirmation within a week, please follow up with a telephone call.
6. Entries submitted by mail should be burned on a CD. Please provide four
copies of the CD and make sure that all files are easy to read when printed on
8.5" x 11"-sized paper. Mail entries to:
7. Awards will be determined by a panel
of three jurors. The 2009 jurors are Barbara Becker, principal, Exhibit
Planning & Research, Berwyn, Illinois, representing CurCom; Marlene Chambers, editor emerita, Denver Art Museum, representing
EdCom; and Phyllis
Rabineau, vice president, Interpretation and Education, Chicago History
Museum, representing NAME.
8. Winning entries will be recognized in
the Marketplace of Ideas at the 2009 AAM Annual Meeting and featured on the
CurCom Web site at www.curcom.org. All awardees will be asked to (a) provide a
statement about their labels and label-writing processes for use in the
Marketplace display and (b) be present during the
Marketplace, if attending the annual meeting.
9. Please note: By entering, you are giving
competition organizers permission to publish your written work and accompanying
photographs in material related to the competition, both online and in print.
10. Questions? Please
contact John Russick (312.799.2172, russick@chicagohistory.org) or Emily
Nordstrom (312.799.2144, nordstrom@chicagohistory.org)
Excellence in
Exhibition Label Writing Competition
Submission Guidelines
The submission deadline is Monday, November 3, 2008. Before submitting
your entry, please read the competition guidelines.
Each submission must include:
Contact information
·
Contact
name, phone number, and e-mail address
·
Names
of the project’s writer(s) and editor(s)
Exhibition information
·
Organization
name
·
Title
of the exhibition
·
Date
of opening (must be between October 2006 and October 2008)
·
Target
audience
·
Description
of the exhibition (100 words or less)
Please note: If you are submitting
more than one label from a single exhibition, the contact and exhibition
information does not need to be repeated.
Label information
·
Identify
the label type:
a. Introductory,
presents the basic themes of an
exhibition
b. Concept (e.g., a section or subsection label), explains a specific topic
c. Instructional, describes how
to do something within an exhibition
d. Object, describes and invites
investigation of an object or objects
e. Other, please explain
·
Label copy as a Word document or other text-only file
·
Photograph
of the label on display
·
Description
of your approach to writing this label (250 words or less)
In your
description, consider questions such as: What were your goals? What was your process? Why did you write it this
way? What was most successful about this approach?
Submit
materials to:
Attn: Emily Nordstrom
1601
nordstrom@chicagohistory.org