The Competition contains two categories for publications, one for local society publications and one for district publications. The category for local societies is further subdivided into Class A and Class B. There are no subdivisions for district newsletters/bulletins.  

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• The Class A subdivision is for rose societies consisting of 60 members or fewer.  

• The Class B subdivision is for rose societies consisting of more than 60 members.  

• For determining the appropriate Class subdivision, the number of members is based on the circulation size of a society’s newsletter, minus courtesy exchanges, and is designated by the editor or publisher. The Committee understands that membership numbers can change throughout the year. It is acceptable for the editor/publisher to determine the appropriate Class subdivision by averaging the number of the society’s members from the prior calendar year.  

• The appropriate “Class A” or “Class B” subdivision should be noted on the first submission of the year and shall remain in effect until the end of the calendar year.  

• As a recommendation, the size of a newsletter that is electronically submitted to the Committee should be no more than 2 megabytes (MB) to facilitate downloading and printing. There is no limit on the file size that a society may circulate to its own members. 

• Newsletters/bulletins should be submitted to the Committee in a current version of Adobe Acrobat (“pdf”). They should not be password protected and should be able to be readily opened and saved without the need for additional software or cutting and pasting. ​

• Submissions to the Committee should not be combined with any other mailing list and should not be sent “bcc”. ​

• The subject line for e-mail submissions to Committee members must contain (1) the full name of the society and (2) the words “Class (A or B)” or “District” as appropriate. ​

• Publications should be e-mailed to Committee members at the same time as they are circulated to local society/district members or subscribers. ​

• To qualify for an award, the Committee must receive at least four issues of the local newsletter/bulletins, and at least two issues of district newsletter/bulletins. ​

• For Newsletter/Bulletin Award consideration, societies are encouraged to enter the Competition with their first newsletter of the year. However, a society will be eligible for publication awards as long as the Committee members receives their entry before June 10th. After June 10th, late entrants may still be considered for AOM awards. The final issue of the year must be received by the Committee by December 31st to be eligible for scoring in the current year’s competition. ​

• Members of the Committee, except the chairperson, evaluate and score newsletter/bulletins submitted for the Competition. Neither a Committee member nor a member of his/her immediate family may evaluate and score the newsletter/bulletin from the Committee member’s local society or district. 

• In addition to the Newsletters/Bulletin Competition, the Committee will recognize individual articles and special publications for Awards of Merit (AOM). AOM Award(s) recognize the excellence of outstanding original articles contained in local society and district publications. ​

• Individual articles from newsletter/bulletins or special, one time only, publications are selected for AOM by members of the Committee. There are no classes for special publications submitted for the Award of Merit. ​

• Editors that choose not to compete in the Newsletter/Bulletin Competition are still encouraged to submit their newsletters for AOM consideration. Publications submitted for AOM consideration should have the words “AOM Only” included on the e-mail subject line. 

In each section below, partial to full points may be awarded 

• 25 points — Rose horticulture information — Articles on planting, pruning, fertilizing, spraying, pests, protection, and placement of roses including regular feature articles about local rose garden needs for this time of year.  

• 15 points — Other rose-related information — Articles on rose arranging, hybridizers, history, photography, research, art, rose botany, recipes, drying of roses, exhibiting techniques and reports by members at district or national conventions are the types of subjects to be considered.  

• 5 points – Original Content — A bonus of up to 5 points is awarded for use of original articles. Reprinting articles from other authors is permitted, but the articles should be relative to the locale of the rose society. Reprints should be useful information for readers, not space fillers. Credit must be given to the original publication and author of any reprinted articles.  

• 20 points — Local society information and promotion Community activities, meeting minutes, member bios, board actions, new member recognition, local awards, membership drives, rose shows, local Roses in Review results, and pruning parties at public gardens are included in this category. ​

• 10 points — Upcoming program information. May include times and dates for upcoming meetings, information on the speaker(s), and rose shows of nearby societies. ​

• 10 points — ARS and District information. This category includes membership information, information on items available from ARS, announcements of conventions, district seminars, information about the ARS garden in Shreveport and/or other activities hosted or sponsored by the ARS. ​

• 15 points — Overall Appearance, Workmanship & Functionality. Encompasses all aspects of the publication and includes a neat and orderly design of publication, being easy to read with straightforward navigation, effective use of color, optimized web graphics, interactive functioning web links, correct e-mail addresses, etc. The newsletter/bulletin should be devoid of typographical errors, misspellings, incomplete sentences and/or grammatical errors.

In each section below, partial to full points may be awarded. 

• 30 points — District Information and Promotion 
• This category is appropriate for the announcement of meetings, seminars and activities, reports of district meetings, committee assignments and district award winners. 
• 20 points — ARS Promotion and Information 
• Includes news about national conventions, membership drives, special programs and activities sponsored by the ARS. 
• 20 points — Rose horticulture information 
• This category includes articles of exceptional quality on all aspects of rose horticulture. While original articles are the most desirable, reprints from local society newsletters are acceptable if credit is given to the author, name of the original publication where the article appeared and date of publication. 
• 10 points — Other rose-related information 
• Exhibiting, arranging and photography techniques, biographies of notable members, gardens and/or nurseries in the District and promoting participation in Rose in Review are examples of rose-related information. 
• 10 points — News/information from local rose societies 
• Successful programs by local societies, membership drives, programs to acquire and retain members are appropriate for this category. A complete listing of local society rose show results would require a large amount of space and should be held to a minimum. 
• Such reports are more appropriate when limited to a listing of winners of top awards. Directing a reader’s attention to the district or society’s website for a complete report of the rose show results would be another way to recognize rose show winners. 
• 10 points — Overall Appearance, Workmanship & Functionality 
• The district newsletter/bulletin should have a neat and orderly design of publication, be easy to read, have uncomplicated navigation, an effective use of color, optimized web graphics, interactive functioning web links, correct e-mail addresses and telephone numbers, etc. The newsletter/bulletin should be devoid of typographical errors, misspellings, incomplete sentences and/or grammatical errors.

The chair shall collect scores from the Committee members and tabulate those scores for all newsletters submitted to the Competition. Awards will be announced in the May/June issue of the American Rose. ​

• Class A, Class B and District awards are tabulated separately. 
• Gold, Silver, Bronze and Honorable Mention certificates will be awarded to each of these groups. 
• In case of ties, each of the tied publications will receive the award as judged.

• An Award of Merit Certificate shall be awarded to the authors of individual articles contained in local rose society and/or District newsletters/bulletins or special publications as voted on by the Committee. 
• There is no limit on the number of Awards of Merit that may be bestowed each year. Reprints are not eligible.