Three Kansas advisers were awarded Gold Keys from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association at the CSPA’s annual conference this month in New York, and a fourth Kansan was awarded the Charles R. O’Malley Award.
Linda Drake from Chase County High School, C. Dow Tate from Shawnee Mission East and Rebecca Lucas Tate from Shawnee Mission North were among just eight honorees nationwide who received their Gold Keys on Friday, March 19, at Columbia University.
The most recent Gold Key winner from Kansas, Linda Puntney from Kansas State University, was honored with the O’Malley Award, which is given annually to a single educator who has “a sustained record of outstanding teaching in support of student journalism or student publishing. It is intended to be the CSPA’s highest accolade in support of the core function of teaching as related to student-practiced journalism.” Puntney, the director of Student Publications at KSU and the executive director of the Journalism Education Association, earned her Gold Key in 1993.
According to the CSPA, “Gold Key recipients have demonstrated their support for excellence in teaching journalism and in advising student publications.”
CSPA has been awarding Gold Keys since 1929, and 16 Kansans have won the honor, beginning in 1940 with Prof. L.N. Flint of the University of Kansas. The list:
- Prof. L.N. Flint, KU, 1940
- Frances Taylor, Argentine High School, Kansas City, 1950
- Dale Pigg, SM North, 1959
- Ura Plata, Washburn Rural, 1964
- Dorothy Greer, Topeka High, 1965 (Greer went on to found the Colorado High School Press Association, modeling it after KSPA)
- Frank Naylor, Wyandotte High, 1966
- Edna Coder, Hays High, 1970
- Nicoletta Economy, Wyandotte High, 1973
- Katherine Rogers, Fort Hays State, 1982
- Jackie Engel, McPherson High, 1983
- David Adams, KSU, 1987
- Ron Johnson, KSU, 1992
- Linda Puntney, KSU, 1993
- Linda Drake, Chase County, 2010
- C. Dow Tate, SM East, 2010
- Rebecca Lucas Tate, SM North, 2010
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