Media Copy Overview
Many organisations need entry media in their own storage. Some have data policies that require it. Others want a long-term archive of the work submitted to their awards program. Media Copy handles both through a managed, automated process, so nobody has to export or bulk-download entry media by hand.
Media Copy is an add-on for Acclaim Awards that keeps a managed, continuously updated copy of the entry assets in every stage of your competition.
Acclaim continues to store and serve your media for all entry and judging activity.
Real World Example: An organisation's data policy requires it to hold submitted material in storage it controls. The Competition Admin sets up Media Copy once, and Acclaim keeps that storage current with every entry asset as Entrants write, revise and submit their entries.
Availability and Requirements
Available on: Acclaim Flex, as an add-on
Required role: Competition Admin. Sharing one Media Copy Location across a Competition Group also requires the Program Director role.
You'll also need: an Amazon Web Services account, with permission to create an Amazon S3 bucket and edit its bucket policy
Media Copy Basics
A Media Copy Location is the Amazon S3 bucket, owned and managed by your organisation, that receives the copied entry assets. Acclaim manages what is in it. Your organisation owns and controls it, and pays for the storage it uses. Media Copy works only with Amazon S3.
Entry assets are the digital assets currently referenced by exhibits in draft or submitted entries: video, audio, images and uploaded documents such as PDFs. This includes assets added during an Additional Materials Request window and inline images in text questions.
A Media Copy Schedule is how often Acclaim runs the copy for a Competition: Weekly, on a day and time you set, or Everyday, at a time you set. Each Competition has its own Media Copy Schedule.
Each time Media Copy runs, Acclaim:
Adds every entry asset currently referenced by any entry in any Competition Event in your Competition, including a new upload that replaces an earlier one.
Removes any asset that no entry in your Competition references any more.
Acclaim collects each Competition's entry assets in one folder inside the Media Copy Location, named after the Competition Name. It looks for that folder by name on every run and creates it if it doesn't exist.
Media Copy is not a backup. It holds what your entries reference right now, not everything that has ever existed. If an asset is removed from an entry and nothing else references it, Media Copy removes it too. If an entry is deleted, its assets go as well, unless another entry shares them.
Because Acclaim matches the folder by Competition Name, renaming a Competition after Media Copy has run doesn't rename the folder. The next run creates a new folder under the new name, and your assets end up split across both. Check the Competition Name before you set up Media Copy.
Setting Up Your Media Copy Location in AWS
Log in to your AWS account and go to S3.
Click General purpose buckets, then click Create bucket.
Add a name for your Media Copy Location and select any AWS Region. Acclaim detects the region automatically.
Leave every other setting at its default and click Create bucket.
Leave Block all public access switched on. The bucket policy Acclaim generates grants access to one named user in Acclaim's AWS account and nothing else. That isn't a public policy, so Block Public Access doesn't interfere with it. If a copy ever fails, public access settings are not the cause.
See AWS's guide to getting started with Amazon S3 for more on creating a bucket.
Setting Up Media Copy in Acclaim
A bucket policy is the permissions document AWS uses to control who can access your Media Copy Location. Acclaim generates it for you, and you paste it into AWS.
In Acclaim, go to
Export Centre > Media Copy > Setup Media Copy.In the Bucket name field, add the name of your Media Copy Location exactly as it appears in S3, then click Copy Bucket Policy.
In AWS, open your Media Copy Location, go to
Permissions > Bucket policyand click Edit. Paste in the policy and click Save changes.Back in Acclaim, click Report Recipients. In the dialog, add the people who should receive a report after each completed run, then click Save. Each recipient must be registered with the Competition.
Click Test & Save.
Test & Save writes and deletes a single test object in your Media Copy Location to confirm access. Media Copy doesn't start until the test succeeds.
The bucket policy grants GetObject, PutObject, DeleteObject and GetBucketLocation on the contents of your Media Copy Location only. It can't list the Media Copy Location or reach anything outside it, and nobody else gains access through it.
Share One Media Copy Location Across a Competition Group (Optional)
If your Competition belongs to a Competition Group, you can make its setup a Competition Media Copy Group Policy. Every other Competition in the Group then copies to the same Media Copy Location, with the same permissions, and its own Media Copy setup screen becomes read-only. Each Competition still runs its own Media Copy Schedule.
Choose This is a Competition Media Copy Group Policy.
Competitions in the Group can't opt out. Leave the option unticked if you want this setup to cover only this Competition.
Each Competition gets its own folder, named after its Competition Name. If two Competitions in the Group share a name, their assets land in the same folder. Make sure every Competition Name in the Group is unique before you set up a Competition Media Copy Group Policy.
Set the Media Copy Schedule
Go to Setup Media Copy Schedule.
Choose Weekly (a day and time) or Everyday (a time), then click Schedule.
Times follow your awards program's local time all year. 02:00 stays 02:00 whether or not daylight saving is in effect.
The first time you click Schedule, Acclaim runs a copy straight away, whatever frequency you chose. It then follows your Media Copy Schedule. A Weekly schedule for Monday at 02:00, set up on a Thursday, copies now and next runs on Monday at 02:00. You find out within minutes that your Media Copy Location and bucket policy work. Clicking Schedule again later changes the frequency without starting another immediate copy.
Following a Media Copy Run
The first run copies every entry asset your Competition currently references. After that, each run copies only what has changed since the last successful run.
While a run is in progress, Acclaim shows a progress bar and Copying…. When it finishes, Last Execution Status shows one of:
Completed: everything copied
Completed – N file(s) skipped: the skipped files stay queued and Acclaim retries them on the next run
Failed – N file(s) not copied
After a run that completes in full, Acclaim emails your Report Recipients a spreadsheet of the entries and assets copied, so the report always matches your Media Copy Location. A run with skipped files sends no report. Acclaim shows the reason in the panel and retries those files next time.
When you delete an entry's media in Acclaim, the next run removes it from your Media Copy Location.
Changing or Stopping Media Copy
Update Media Copy Report Recipients
You can change who receives the report after each completed run at any time.
Go to
Export Centre > Media Copy > Setup Media Copy.Click Report Recipients.
In the dialog, add or remove recipients, then click Save. Each recipient must be registered with the Competition.
Change the Media Copy Schedule
There's no direct edit.
Click Stop.
Go to Setup Media Copy Schedule and choose the new frequency.
Stop cancels any pending run and stops the Media Copy Schedule straight away. Everything already copied stays in your Media Copy Location.
Delete the Configuration
Click Delete to switch Media Copy off completely. Acclaim stops copying, removes the configuration and its Media Copy Schedule, and clears its record of what it has already copied. Entry assets already in your Media Copy Location stay there.
Deleting can't be undone. To use Media Copy again, you create a new configuration, and because Acclaim's record of earlier copies is gone, the first run copies everything again.
Deleting a Competition Media Copy Group Policy switches Media Copy off for every Competition in the Group, not just this one. You can then set up each Competition again on its own, with its own Media Copy Location and bucket policy.
Troubleshooting Media Copy
Symptom | Likely cause |
|---|---|
Test & Save fails | The bucket policy isn't saved in AWS yet, or the bucket name doesn't match what's in S3 |
Status stuck at Copying… | Refresh the page. The panel reads the current state when it loads |
N file(s) skipped, repeatedly | Someone changed or removed the bucket policy in AWS after setup. Check it there |
Nothing ever runs | Nobody clicked Schedule, or someone clicked Stop |
A Competition's assets are split across two folders | Someone renamed the Competition after Media Copy had run. Acclaim matches the folder by Competition Name, so the rename created a new folder |
No report arrived | The run skipped files, so Acclaim sent no report, or the recipient isn't registered with the Competition |
Acclaim never loses skipped files silently. They stay queued until a run copies them.
See the Entry & Entry Media Report (RPT-0116) for the report of currently referenced entry assets that Report Recipients receive after each completed run.