The Association of
Public Relations Officers
and Bulletin Editors
of the
Society for the Preservation and
Encouragement of Barber shop Quartet
Singing in America, Inc.

ADVISORY BOARD

Herb Bayles W.Grant Carson Dick Girvin Mike Jones Brian Lynch Waldo Redekop

Escondido, Calif. Dallas, Texas Laguna Woods, Calif. Louisville, Ky. Kenosha, Wis. Hillsburgh, Ont.

May 25: May-August
August 31: September-December

The end of the year comes with the notice by your PROBE district contest coordinator saying it's time to submit three consecutive issues for the BETY. If you're like most editors, you spread out the 12 issues and start choosing the best consecutive three. Do realize, however, there's a better way if you're serious about bulletin contests.

The time to select the three issues for contest entry is before they're ever published! The reason is that to score well in the Content category a long list of articles must be included. Very few bulletins have that long list in every issue. Indeed, especially in small chapters that may be impossible. Consider that to score maximum points announcements of at least two coming events with details of time, location, uniform and so on must be included. Sometimes in small chapters there just aren't two such events coming. So an element in planning the three issues to be entered, before they are published, is the schedule of chapter activities. One editor for a small chapter went so far as to meet with the board of directors and plan so that the chapter would have all the activities to be reported for three consecutive months. He won the IBC.

So, if you're serious about bulletin competitions, here's a strategy that may help.

1. Plan which three consecutive issues are to be entered in contest before they are published.
2. Consider in the planning the forecast of chapter activities for those three months.
3. Before each of the three issues is put to bed, run down the list given in the Content score sheet to see if everything is covered.