Another slow January snow day? There’s no better time than for your school’s top two senior journalists to work on their portfolios for the annual High School Journalist of the Year competition. The submission deadline is Tuesday, Feb. 15.
They’ll be eligible to win up to $1,250 at the state level and up to $5,000 in the national competition sponsored by the Journalism Education Association.
The deadline is Feb. 15, 2011, and schools are limited to no more than two student applications.
To download the application forms (there’s one for KSPA and one for JEA) and view requirements for the portfolio, go to the proper page on this site.
The competition begins at the state level, where the KSPA Journalist of the Year Committee (comprised of journalism educators from Wichita State University, Kansas State University and the University of Kansas) selects state winners by classification and then chooses the state’s overall winner. That person’s portfolio is forwarded to the national competition.
This year’s scholarship prize money will be awarded thusly:
- $750 for Class 1A/2A Journalist of the Year
- $750 for Class 3A/4A Journalist of the Year
- $750 for Class 5A/6A Journalist of the Year
- An additional $500 for overall winner, the Kansas High School Journalist of the Year
Last year’s Kansas JOY, Tim Shedor from Shawnee Mission East High School, earned runner-up honors from the JEA, and won an additional $2,000 in that competition.
The national winner of the $5,000 scholarship, Ina Herlihy of San Francisco, Calif., has posted excerpts from her portfolio online for entrants to peruse and to use as a model for their own portfolios.
To qualify for the scholarships, the student must be a high school senior, have at least a 3.0 GPA, have been involved in high school journalism for at least two years, been a state winner, submitted a portfolio and be a student of a JEA member adviser.
Keep in mind that the selection committees not only appreciate great journalism, they look for an organized portfolio, one that clearly highlights the student journalist’s top work.
Completed portfolios should be sent by Feb. 15, 2011, to KSPA headquarters:
- Journalist of the Year
- c/o Jeff Browne, KSPA
- 1435 Jayhawk Blvd.
- University of Kansas
- Lawrence, Kansas 66045
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact Susan Massy, JEA state director at susanmassy@smsd.org.
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