Writing Prompts will be available at 6 a.m. on Monday, April 15.

WHAT ARE THE STATE CONTESTS?

VISUAL CATEGORIES

Seventeen categories allow students to work on creating photographs, videos, multimedia, illustrations and designs in advance of the February submission deadline. Using a prompt provided below by KSPA, the students create their journalism and then submit it online. Comments from judges are returned to advisers via email after the contest results are final.

WRITING CONTESTS

Nine additional contests of writing include categories like feature writing, copyediting and cutline writing. Using notes or prompts provided by KSPA in February, students have a couple of days to craft stories, editorials and cutlines that are judged by local professionals. Students receive feedback through rubrics and notes on their writing.

DEADLINES

Please note that the number of days between the writing prompts opening and the writing entry deadline. We are providing one extra day because Easter Sunday is the first day that prompts are available. 

Release of Visual Contest prompts: March 8, 2024

Deadline for contest registration: April 10, 2024

Submissions of Visual category entries begin: April 1, 2024

Writing prompts available: 6 a.m. on April 15, 2024

Writing entries due: 11 p.m. on April 18, 2024

Visual entries due: 11 p.m. on April 18, 2024

Results of Regional Contest posted: at KSPA State Celebration at the University of Kansas on May 4, 2024 

RECENT CHANGES

ONE DEADLINE

All entries, whether Writing or Visual, will be due at the same time on the same day. In the past, these dates have been separate. Please note the deadline (posted above) on your calendars. And please remind students of the deadline. 

ONE UNIFIED SUBMISSION LOCATION

All entries — for Visual and Writing categories — will be submitted to the same submission platform. 

BOTH VISUAL AND WRITING DIVISIONS will use BNC (Better Newspaper Contests) for contest submission. When that system is open for submission, we will email all participating schools with login details. This is the same contest software that we have used for years at KSPA for Regionals and State digital submissions. 

THE CHANGE? All contest entries, including Writing categories, will use BNC for the 2024 State Contest. 

NO ADDITIONAL “WILD CARD” ENTRIES

The Regional Contest allowed for “Wild Card” entries again this year. All “Wild Card” entries that placed at Regionals have advanced to State. However, for the State Contest, there will be no additional “Wild Card” entries. All entries for the State Contest must have qualified through the Regional Contest.

A STATE CELEBRATION!

KSPA is excited to host a State Celebration at the University of Kansas on May 4, 2023 at the Kansas Union. Stay tuned for more details on the event. But block your calendar now for a day of celebrating State Contest winners, a chance for advisers to gather and a chance to learn from some featured speakers. 

At this event, KSPA will also be celebrating its 50th anniversary with an luncheon for advisers, former advisers and friends of KSPA. We hope that you can join us!

VISUAL CATEGORIES

Contest V01

Academics Photography

prompt available now

Who:

  • individual competitors
  • two entries per school (or three, with a “Wild Card” entry)

Contest V02

Advertising Design

prompt available now

Who:

  • individual competitors
  • two entries per school (or three, with a “Wild Card” entry)

Contest V03

Digital Illustration

prompt available now

Who:

  • individual competitors
  • two entries per school (or three, with a “Wild Card” entry)

Contest V04

Editorial Cartoon

prompt available now

Who:

  • individual competitors
  • two entries per school (or three, with a “Wild Card” entry)

Contest V05

Headline Writing & Design

prompt now available

Who:

  • individual competitors
  • two entries per school (or three, with a “Wild Card” entry)

Contest V06

Infographic Design

prompt now available

Who:

  • individual competitors
  • two entries per school (or three, with a “Wild Card” entry)

Contest V07

Multimedia Storytelling

prompt now available

Who:

  • individual competitors or in a group of up to four
  • two entries per school (or three, with a “Wild Card” entry)

Contest V08

News Page Design

prompt now available

Who:

  • individual competitors
  • two entries per school (or three, with a “Wild Card” entry)

Contest V09

Social Media

prompt now available

Who:

  • individual competitors, in a group of up to four or as an entire staff
  • two entries per school (or three, with a “Wild Card” entry)

Contest V10

Sports Action Photography

prompt now available

Who:

  • individual competitors
  • two entries per school (or three, with a “Wild Card” entry)

Contest V11

Sports Feature Photography

prompt now available

Who:

  • individual competitors
  • two entries per school (or three, with a “Wild Card” entry)

Contest V12

Student Life Photography

prompt now available

Who:

  • individual competitors
  • two entries per school (or three, with a “Wild Card” entry)

Contest V13

Video News

prompt now available

Who:

  • individual competitors or in a group of up to four
  • two entries per school (or three, with a “Wild Card” entry)

Contest V14

Video PSA

prompt now available

Who:

  • individual competitors or in a group of up to four
  • two entries per school (or three, with a “Wild Card” entry)

Contest V15

Video Sports Promo

prompt now available

Who:

  • individual competitors or in a group of up to four
  • two entries per school (or three, with a “Wild Card” entry)

Contest V16

Yearbook Design

prompt now available

Who:

  • individual competitors
  • two entries per school (or three, with a “Wild Card” entry)

Contest V17

Yearbook Theme & Graphics

prompt now available

Who:

  • individual competitors or in a group of two
  • two entries per school (or three, with a “Wild Card” entry)

WRITING CATEGORIES

COMMON CONTEST QUESTIONS

Policy on contests entries from school districts with academies

Some Kansas school districts allow students to enroll at their high school and a school district academy, often to learn specialized skills. In those circumstances, for the purposes of state and regional contests KSPA will require:

  • Each institution that submits entries must have a KSPA member adviser as a teacher at the school. It is not sufficient to have a membership for only the high school but not the academy – or vice versa.
  • If a student participates in a publication, club or curricular class at one institution, the student should enter KSPA contests as a student at that same institution. (For instance, if Pat is editor of the high school yearbook, Pat should enter the contest on behalf of the high school – not the academy.)
  • If a student participates in a publication(s), club(s) or curricular class(es) at both institutions, that student may choose which institution to compete for. (For instance, if Sam is a newspaper photographer at the high school, but runs social media at the academy, Sam can choose to submit entries for either the high school or the academy.)
  • The KSHSAA classification of the school district academy will be determined by the combined enrollment of all high schools that send students to the academy.

Number of awards

KSPA will urge judges in all contests and classifications to award 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th place.

However, some judges will decide to award fewer than six places. In the past, some judges have cited these reasons for not awarding all six places:

  • a small number of entries in a specific category and division
  • entries that did not follow instructions
  • lack of quality from entries

This circumstance — with fewer than six award winners — is more common in Regional Contests than the State Contest. Advisers should be aware that it is possible and that we will follow up with judges to request they submit six award winners unless one of bullet points above applies to the category they are judging.

Authentic Coverage

Regarding all photography, video and multimedia contests: you are permitted to mention the name of your school in your coverage. For instance, when writing captions for images or completing the multimedia coverage, there is no need to change the name of the school or people to make the entry anonymous. Jerseys, t-shirts and signs in footage and photos often make it obvious to the judge what school is entering the contest. Students: please write the coverage and captions as you would for your publication. Also, students and advisers should know that captions are part of the judging criteria.

State Contest contact information

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Getting organized

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Writing Categories

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Visual Categories

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Judging Criteria

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Entry limit

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Fees & Costs

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Past Regional & State Prompts

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Simply Better

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Thanks for participating in the 2024 KSPA State Contest!

Sincerely,

Your KSPA Staff!