THE ‘NUTS’ AND ‘BOLTS’ OF SUBMITTING A TORCH AWARD APPLICATION
What ‘TO DO’ and
What ‘NOT TO DO’
to give your application the best chance of winning!
WHAT YOU ARE STRIVING FOR….THE ‘PERFECT’ APPLICATION
Your submission will be reviewed by three (3) judges
It should take the judge 15 – 20 minutes to review
You want the judge to focus on the content, not the idiosyncrasies of your application
An application / submission can never convey the spirit of the program, so don’t try through inundation of content
That this Men’s Club / Brotherhood program is worthy of award and should be duplicated by almost every Men’s Club.
MISTAKES TO AVOID! Paper Submissions (we don’t take them!) Electronic files which are TOO BIG Inserting too many non-relevant pictures or
graphics or not inserting the pictures and graphics into the submission document
Electronic files which are poorly named Creative formatting choices & fonts which
are too big Too much detail Sending in a format which the receiver may
not be able to read! Filed too late That it isn’t clear the Men’s Club did the
program in the application & supporting docs
AVOIDANCE #1PAPER SUBMISSIONS
Submissions are retrieved by the judges electronically, so a paper submission has to be converted {by a Conservative Rabbi} (i.e., scanned).
Hand-written applications are hard/impossible to read.
The Torch Award Chairman has other things to do than scan your documents.
AVOIDANCE #2ELECTRONIC FILES WHICH ARE TOO BIG
Submissions are retrieved by the judges electronically, so a submission which is too large takes too long to download
There are a number of file compression software programs, for both Windows and Mac, which will make a graphics and/or picture file smaller. Use them BEFORE you put a picture in your submission document.
AVOIDANCE #3REDUCING THE SIZE OF GRAPHICS INSERTED
Crop image before processing Windows
Microsoft Office Picture Editor (comes with MSOffice Professional)
If your computer didn’t come with one, check out www.download.com for lots of freeware (public domain) and shareware programs (try before you buy)
Mac OS Graphic Converter (available at www.lemkesoft
.com/ or www.download.com) If your computer didn’t come with one, check out
www.download.com for lots of freeware (public domain) and shareware programs (try before you buy)
AVOIDANCE #3aTOO MANY UNIMPORTANT PICTURES
Remember, the Judge doesn’t know who the people in the photographs are. Don’t just put pictures in your submission because you took them.
Pictures should tell you something which the text description can’t.
Pictures don’t have to show each and every detail of the event, no matter how minor.
AVOIDANCE #4POORLY NAMED FILES
You may have only one (2) file named ‘Torch Award Submission,’ but the Chairperson has many related to submissions.
Name it with the ID# or ID# and Name of Program, i.e.
TA11-068.doc or TA09-068.pdfTA09-068_Hearing_Mens_Voices.pdf
Don’t name it generic ‘TorchAwardSubmission” Remember, there are many submissions
downloaded, & your file should be understandably named for the receiver…. not you!
AVOIDANCE #5FORMATTING ISSUES
Professional Submissions are generally done in 11 or 12 point Times Roman (serif) or Arial / Helvetica (non-serif) font.
Fancy fonts on your computer may not be on someone else’s computer, and your operating system’s ‘font substitution’ may not result in an attractive and persuasive document. [Other than a document converted to be a pdf, in which the font information is imbedded with the document.]
If you can’t read 11 or 12 point font on your computer, change the magnification size of the image, not the font size of the document itself.
AVOIDANCE #6SENDING IN AN ELECTRONIC FORMAT THE RECEIVER COMPUTER CAN’T READ
There are a number of operating systems and file formats, and Microsoft likes to change file formats so older software can’t read newer created files.
Learn how to ‘Save As’ and if you are going to save in Word format (which many word processes can read), save it in a version which the most types of computer systems can read
Best Bet. Save as an Adobe Portable Document Format (pdf), so that what you see is exactly what the reader on the other end will see. With the Mac OS, you can do this automatically with any file you can print.
AVOIDANCE #7STARTING / FILING TOO LATE
Even if the format for the submission changes a little next year, the information needed likely won’t change that much, so prepare your submission RIGHT AFTER you hold the program. Make it part of the responsibility of the program chairman.
Have your Program Chairperson fill out a Torch Award Application RIGHT AFTER the event… awsiwrt (Anything Worth Saying Is Worth Repeating TWICE!)
Torch Award Rules are out now. Use them.
TO THOSE WHO SAY PACKAGING ISN’T IMPORTANT…
There were many MP3 players prior to the introduction of the ipod …
There were many cell phones prior to the introduction of the iPhone …
You want your submission to stand out for its simplicity and understanding!
Remember the following !
A submission Template is available to download in MSWord from the Torch Award page of the FJMC website. Download and use it when submitting your document
Be professional in your submission. You can submit your application now, or right
after you do your potentially award-winning program. Prepare it and submit it while your enthusiasm is high, not months later.
FINAL THOUGHTSKEEPING INFORMED OF DEADLINES The FJMC has many methods of communicating
with your club leadership… but they have to be read
The Advantage newsletter for club presidents (sent via mail bi-monthly)
HaShofar (the email bulletin of the FJMC) Flyers which come in the bi-monthly dues
status mailing sent out by the FJMC FJMC HQ – 1-800-288-FJMC (3562) Your Regional Officers
Please, use them all You wouldn’t want your program’s submission
to be rejected because it was filed too late!
WE LOOK FORWARD TO RECEIVING YOUR SUBMISSION(S) IN
2010 & 2011
GOOD LUCK!For further information:Bill Becker, 2011 Torch Award [email protected] Kahan, 2009 Torch Award [email protected]
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