Middle School Contest
The contest
The KSPA Middle School Contests give Kansas students the opportunity to get feedback and recognition for their outstanding student journalism. Students earn certificates for top work and all students receive feedback.
Entry details
Students must be in sixth through ninth grades and be enrolled at a Kansas middle school, junior high, or K-8 building. Advisers of entering students must be members of the Kansas Scholastic Press Association.
Each school may have up to 10 entries divided among the 4 contests. For each entry, you will receive an instructive critique and certificates for those judged with an Honorable Mention, Excellent or Superior rating.
Cost to enter ALL contests is $15 per school, payable by check or credit card to the Kansas Scholastic Press Association. The $15 pays for return postage of certificates. Please register at this link.
Entries must be submitted electronically by April 10, 2026. All entries and awards will be judged and returned by mail starting May 7 and in your hands by or before May 15. (If you need them sooner, let us know.)
Entry categories
Entries may be submitted electronically in the following categories:
PHOTOGRAPHY WITH CAPTION
Entries may be either black and white or color. Students who enter this category should submit photos that have appeared in either the newspaper or yearbook within the last year.
Submit images as jpegs to the submission form. A caption must also be added to the form. The image doesn’t need to be cropped as it appeared in the publication.
CRITERIA: Judges will look for imaginative subject matter, technical quality, composition, visual impact, story told by photograph, simplicity, cropping and lighting.
FEATURE WRITING
The feature should be about 350 words. It should be planned to be published in the current school year’s yearbook or literary magazine, or should have appeared in a newspaper published within the year.
Feature entries should to be submitted as PDF files using the submission form.
CRITERIA: Judges will look for attention-grabbing leads, feature style as opposed to news style, colorful details, use of direct quotes and anecdotes, reader appeal, accuracy and completeness.
LAYOUT
Entries must be student-designed and can be for a yearbook, newspaper or literary magazine. Designs should be from the current year’s publication and from inside the publication. Layouts should include headlines, subheads, photos, captions and copy to be fully considered for the contest. (Try to avoid title pages, opening pages, closing pages, tables of contents, portrait spreads, division pages and index pages.) Submit double-page spreads with both pages included.
Entries need to be submitted as PDF files using the submission form.
CRITERIA: Judges will look for clean layout, effective positioning of elements, evidence of consideration for readers, creative graphic approaches and a sense of personality or style. Judging will be for the layout only.
BROADCAST
Broadcast may be video or audio on any topic submitted with a publicly-accessible link. We suggest using YouTube. Include a note on the entry form indicating the section to be judged if there is more than one. Submit a publicly viewable URL in the entry form. Segments judged should not exceed 3 minutes.
CRITERIA: Judges will look for audio and visual clarity, use of colorful, clear details, reader appeal, accuracy, and completeness.
How to enter
1.Click here to register for the contest. Register once for each school.
2. Submit each entry using this form. Each entry needs to be submitted individually.
3. Entries MUST BE received by April 10, 2026.
4. Verify your materials were submitted using our live submissions list.
5. If you have any questions, please contact our staff at [email protected].
Past winners