After all your award entries are submitted for the WBA Awards, you might ask yourself who will be judging the results of your hard work. Your WBA makes sure award entries are being judged by professional broadcasters who can review your entries impartially.
Once submitted, your entries are judged by professional broadcasters in a rotating series of other states. Each year there’s one state designated to judges Wisconsin’s entries. Broadcast associations in other states help the WBA find judges. In return, the WBA asks our members to help when other states are seeking judges for their awards contests.
In recent years, because of a record number of submissions, we’ve had to ask for judges from numerous states. Thankfully, broadcasters are generous people and we’ve always managed to find volunteers. We’ve also been known to bribe other states with Wisconsin cheese curds.
But being a professional broadcaster in a different state isn’t enough. We look for broadcasters who have experience with the talents and skills associated with the category being judged. Further, we also make sure that entries aren’t being judged by stations that have the same ownership as those submitting the entries. As you can imagine, that’s quite the complicated puzzle to sort out, but WBA Vice President Linda Baun excels at finding judges who can fairly evaluate your submissions.
When you or your station wins a WBA Award for Excellence, you can take pride in knowing that the judges were professional, experienced, and impartial.
If judging isn’t already underway when you read this, it will be underway shortly. We can’t wait to help you celebrate your excellent work at the next WBA Awards Gala, May 2, at the Madison Marriott West.
And the next time you’re asked to judge award entries from another state, please take the time to share your experience and expertise. Broadcasters in other states are returning the favor year after year.
