This afternoon, the Eclipse Awards Steering Committee issued a statement in the wake of some questions that were raised following an announcement last week that a Media Eclipse Award would go to Daily Racing Form in the the Audio Multi-Media and Internet Category. Here is the statement in its entirety.
The Eclipse Awards Steering Committee on Wednesday, January 3 became aware of a question regarding the winning entry submitted by Daily Racing Form (DRF) in the Audio Multi-Media and Internet Category.
Steering Committee members representing the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB) and National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) -- DRF representatives on the Steering Committee recused themselves -- determined that the question merited contacting the judges in the Audio Multi-Media and Internet category who had awarded points to the entry to determine if this new information would cause them to change their votes. The judges replied that the new information would not have impacted the way they voted or changed the order in which they voted. Thus, there will be no change involving the winning entry in this Audio Multi-Media and Internet Category.
As it does every year, the Steering Committee will undertake a rigorous review of the Eclipse Awards Media Rules to determine if any changes should be made with regard to the 2018 Media Eclipse Awards.
Members of the Steering Committee are Alicia Hughes (NTWAB), Greg Hall (NTWAB), Keith Chamblin (NTRA), Jim Gluckson (NTRA), Steven Crist (DRF) and Mandy Minger (DRF).
The award to DRF is described in this story. Comments and, in some cases criticisms, made subsequent to the announcement of the award noted that part of the piece's content appeared in 2010 and that there was a lack of disclosure in the winning entry. A video in the winning submission that qualified the piece for the Audio Multi-Media and Internet Category in the first place was not in the 2010 content and was published for the first time in 2017.
The rule in question states in pertinent part, "Entries should display outstanding achievement in the coverage of North American Thoroughbred racing and must have been published or aired for the first time between Nov. 14, 2016 and Nov. 16, 2017. "
The entry, taken as a whole, was published for the first time between those dates. Portions of the entry were not, as pointed out in the questions that were raised.
