2020 Regional Contests

• Feb. 19 :: Regional contests at . . .
  • Emporia State University
  • Kansas State University
  • Pittsburg State University
  • Wichita State University
• Feb. 20 :: Regional contest at Fort Hays State University
• Feb. 21 :: Regional contest at the University of Kansas

The following schedule applies to all Regional locations and all dates:

• 8:30 a.m. Regional contest desk opens for questions & assistance
• 9 a.m. Opening remarks & instructions
• 9:30 a.m. – 11 a.m. Session One
  • Copy Editing
  • Sports Writing
  • Editorial Cartoon
  • Yearbook Copy Writing
  • Feature Writing
• 11:10 a.m. – 12:40 p.m. Session Two
  • News Writing
  • Cutline Writing
  • Editorial Writing
  • Yearbook Sports Writing

Want to rep your KSPA pride at Regionals? Regional Contest T-shirts and hoodies are available for purchase! Please place your orders at drewannedesigns.square.site by Jan. 31. Orders will arrive to your preferred address by Feb. 18.

 Regional contacts

Questions about registration, payment or substitutions?

• Kerry Navinskey, KSPA Offices, 1435 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence KS 66045, (785) 864-0605, staff@kspaonline.org

Questions about special student accommodations, parking, location, etc.? More details will be posted here at the start of 2020.

• Emporia State University: Kristy Dekat, Emporia State University, kdekat1@emporia.edu
• Fort Hays State University: Kerry Navinskey, KSPA Offices, (785) 864-0605, staff@kspaonline.org
• Kansas State University: Spencer O’Daniel, Kansas State University,
  sodaniel@collegianmedia.com
• Pittsburg State University: Josh Letner, Pittsburg State University, 620-235-4809, jbletner@pittstate.edu
• University of Kansas: Kerry Navinskey, KSPA Offices, (785) 864-0605, staff@kspaonline.org
• Wichita State University: Amy DeVault, Wichita State University, (316) 978-6052, amy.devault@wichita.edu 

For the 2019 contest, KSPA researched how to improve our the Regional contests for you. Last year we introduced a way to make the Regional contests both more fair and more convenient. And it was a huge success! We know the changes encouraged long-time members to keep competing. And of course, we loved seeing new schools join the fun.

     This revised system allows you, the adviser, to choose where your students attend their on-site contest. For the on-site contests, advisers can now select any of our regional locations: Hays, Wichita, Manhattan, Emporia, Pittsburg or Lawrence. You no longer need to worry about where your school is “assigned” to compete. You’re in control.

     Plus, the KSPA staff will create more fair regionals with a more even number of schools in each. Rather than guessing at how many schools will attend a regional, KSPA will make regional groupings after we know how many schools are competing.

     Advisers simply complete an initial registration by Jan. 17. On this date, you will signal if your school is competing in Regionals. At this point, you will also choose your location for the on-site contests. Simply choose the most convenient campus. The fee for initial registration will be $25 per school.

    Using those initial registrations, KSPA will create regional groupings based on the number of schools that register. For about every seven schools, KSPA will create a regional. So, last year, 43 schools competed in 5A/6A Regionals. That would create 6 regionals.

     We will be sure to publish regional groupings soon after that initial registration deadline. Plus, our digital submission system will automatically slot entries from your school into the correct regional grouping.

     Nearby schools will likely be in the same regional. However, we will avoid — as much as possible — clustering high schools from the same school district into the same regional. For instance, schools in the AnyTown School District might be distributed into a few different regional groupings, even though they are geographically close to one another.

This sheet is not a required step in the registration process, but should help advisers in gathering — whether on paper or digitally — the information needed to organize for the KSPA Regional contests. Advisers do not need to communicate the names and email addresses of their students upon registration. Students will provide their names upon submission of their entry. Gathering email addresses will be helpful if advisers want to add students as authorized entrants to the digital submission contest system at BetterBNC.com.

• Planning Sheet as a PDF
• Planning Sheet as an Excel Document
• Planning Sheet as a Google Doc

On-site contests are proctored at one of the six state universities that host our contests. Those host institutions will provide KSPA-written prompts asking students to write or edit according to directions and within the time provided. Each of the on-site contests is judged according to a rubric. Nine on-site contests will be offered:

• Contest A: Copyediting: Students respond to 25 multiple-choice questions regarding word choice, Associated Press style, grammar and punctuation. Students also provide editing suggestions about a provided story.
  • Judge’s rubric: Judges score the entry based on the number of correct answers on the multiple choice portion, plus a score out of 10 for the “editing suggestions” portion. The highest possible score is 35 out of 35 points.
• Contest B: Sports Writing: Using fictional notes provided by KSPA, students write a story about a sporting event.
• Contest C: Editorial Cartoon: Students craft an editorial cartoon in response to a fictional news story provided by KSPA.
• Contest D: Yearbook Copy Writing: Using fictional notes provided by KSPA, students write a story about a student life or academic topic.
• Contest E: Feature Writing: Using fictional notes provided by KSPA, students write a story about a topic of human interest, humor or novelty.
• Contest F: News Writing: Using fictional notes provided by KSPA, students write a story about a news event.
• Contest G: Cutline Writing: Using fictional notes written about images provided, students write captions that comply with Associated Press style and cutline writing standards.
• Contest H: Editorial Writing: In response to a fictional news story, students write editorials that take a position of leadership on the issue.
• Contest J: Yearbook Sports Writing: Using fictional notes provided by KSPA, students write a story summarizing the season of a sports team.

Ten digital submission contests will be offered. Please click on the links below for the 2020 prompts, including the submission link for each contest.

• Contest K: Academics Photography
  • (frequent judges comments)
• Contest M: Advertising
  • (frequent judges comments)
• Contest N: Headline Writing and Design
  • (frequent judges comments)
• Contest P: Infographics
  • (frequent judges comments)
• Contest Q: News Page Design
  • (frequent judges comments)
• Contest R: Photo Illustration
  • (frequent judges comments)
• Contest S: Sports Photography
  • (frequent judges comments)
• Contest T: Student Life Photography
  • (frequent judges comments)
• Contest U: Yearbook Layout
  • (frequent judges comments)
• Contest V: Yearbook Theme & Graphics
  • (frequent judges comments)

Two contests (Multimedia Storytelling and Online Photo Gallery) will be at the State Contest level only.

Digital Submission contests must be uploaded using the Better Newspaper Contests online submission process that KSPA has customized for our schools. This system will allow upload of .jpg (JPEG) files for photography contests and .pdf (Adobe Acrobat) files for design categories. Almost every photography or design software should be capable of creating files for submission. 

Each school may register and submit two entries in each category.

Each individual student . . .

• may enter up to five Regional contests.
• is limited to no more than two on-site contests (please be sure that the contest are proctored at different times on site).

In the Yearbook Theme and Graphics competition, schools may register . . .

• two team entries of two students per team, or
• two individual entries, or
• one team entry and one individual entry.

Initial registration costs $25 for each school. Initial registration allows advisers to choose their regional location for the on-site contest. It also provides the KSPA staff with necessary information to create regional groupings.

The fee for each category entry has increased to $12.

At its May 2019 board meeting, the KSPA board approved a $2 price increase for the Regional and State contests. For the past ten years, KSPA has maintained a flat $10 cost to enter contests. Meanwhile, costs have risen in the following areas: renting university space, providing online judging, providing credit card processing and paying for catering. On average, these costs have risen 5 percent per year. These cost increases in hosting the contests made the per-entry fee increase necessary. Each entry will now cost $12.

KSPA aims to make the contests accessible to all schools and all students. If your school needs financial assistance in order to participate, please contact executive director Eric Thomas at ericthomas@ku.edu. Thanks for your understanding with our rising costs.

Once a school has registered for the contest, no refunds can be issued. Schools may register for additional entries but cannot reduce the number of entries. All payments are due to the KSPA office before certificates or judging feedback will be returned to the school. Schools should feel free to pay their initial registration fee and category registration fee in the same check if not using a credit card.

Students will be expected to pay for their own lunch and lodging if they elect to remain overnight. Affordable lunch options may be purchased in each university’s student union, where the contests are held.

Other payment notes:

• Payment may be made online by credit card at the time of registration.
• For payment by check, please make checks payable to KSPA and send the check to KSPA, 1435 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045.
• No refunds will be granted once registrations are filed. 
• Student certificates and judging feedback will not be returned until payment in full is received to the KSPA office. 

Students must remain on the contest premises where they are competing throughout the day. Advisers must accompany students to the contest site. At the Regional Contest level, KSPA will not provide any scheduled activities for digital submission entrants. As a result, unless these students are also competing on site, they need not attend the contest.

Each student will be responsible for his/her lunch. Food service is available on each campus.

Once initial registration closes, the director of each contest site will send advisers additional information on parking, food facilities, location of registration and contests.

The director of each regional contest is authorized to enforce the rules approved by the KSPA executive committee. If any adviser violates the rules, his/her students will be disqualified and the principal of the school involved will be notified. 

Advisers are not to give advice or suggestions on digital submission contests. Student questions should be directed to the KSPA assistant and executive director through staff@kspaonline.org

Certificates will be awarded in regional contests to the first-place, second-place and third-place winners as well as to three honorable mentions. Award winners are then eligible to compete in the State Contest on Saturday, May 2, 2020 at the University of Kansas.

Judges will be . . . 

• journalism faculty
• former high school advisers
• graduate students
• journalism students
• professional journalists
• and current advisers (advisers will judge entries from a different enrollment classification to avoid conflicts of interest).

Critique rubrics will be provided with each entry. Judges are encouraged to make comments on all entries. Please keep in mind that judges volunteer their services to KSPA without pay.

Please be advised that people with special needs will be given an equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from all contests sponsored by KSPA and the cooperating institutions that act as hosts. If you or any of your students need to be so accommodated, please let the appropriate contest director know what these accommodations are before Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020.

Two entries per category per school are allowed.

• Copyediting:  Contestants will receive 25 multiple-choice questions and a passage to review. First, contestants will review sentences for use of grammar, Associated Press style, proper news writing, attribution, spelling and redundancy. Students will chose the best correction, if correction is needed. If the sentence is best as originally written, students will indicate “No correction needed.” For the second portion, the contestant will be asked to give initial feedback on the first draft of a story. Students will not use copyediting marks to correct grammar or make notes in the margins to annotate the passage. Instead, contestants will compose a note to the writer about the qualities and shortcomings of the writing. Contestants should especially consider especially, structure, tone, research, ethics and readability. Use of a dictionary, thesaurus or AP Stylebook is approved. Personal listening devices, recording devices and personal computers are prohibited during the contest. 

• Cutline Writing: Students will write cutlines for five photos provided at the contest site. Students may write in pen or pencil. Paper will be provided at the contest site. Students may use dictionary, thesaurus and AP Stylebooks. Personal listening devices, recording devices and personal computers are prohibited during the contest.

• Writing Contests: (Yearbook copy, yearbook sports, feature, news, sports and editorial writing contests). Students will write a story based on information provided on a fact sheet. Students may write in pen or pencil. Paper will be provided. Students may use dictionary, thesaurus and AP Stylebooks. Personal listening devices, recording devices and personal computers are prohibited during the contest.

• Editorial Cartoon Contest: Students will design a cartoon relevant to the topic provided on the fact sheet. The final entry should be submitted in black ink. Do not place your signature anywhere on the entry. Paper will be provided. Students may use dictionary, thesaurus and AP Stylebooks. Personal listening devices, recording devices and personal computers are prohibited during the contest.

Please read the full policy for specific details.

Want a preview of what the State prompts will be like? Want a classroom activity for your students? Need an emergency lesson plan?

KSPA has a page of prompts from previous state and regional contests for you. We will continue to add to the collection as we search through our archives. ONE IMPORTANT NOTE: please notice that some of the rules and formats for the contests have changed (most notably for the Copyediting On-Site Contest. Be sure to read all directions for this year’s contest for guidance.

KSPA compiles the winning entries in the State Contest on its website. Please see the links below for examples of winning work from previous years.

• 2019 KSPA State Contest 
• 2018 KSPA State Contest
• 2017 KSPA State Contest
• 2016 KSPA State Contest
• 2015 KSPA State Contest

All results from the 2020 Regional Contests will be posted on the KSPA website.

All first-, second- and third-place entries, as well as all three honorable mentions in each category, advance to the state competition, set for Saturday, May 2, 2020 at the Kansas Union on the campus of the University of Kansas. For the State Contest, registration begins at 8 a.m., with a general session at 9 a.m. and contests at 9:30 a.m. Return to our website for more details about the State Contest (including the digital submission contest prompts) as they become available in late March.

KSPA and its affiliated universities would like to thank all members and judges for their patience during the time needed for judging.