CHSPA Thursday Note - May 26, 2011

Final Edition of School Year

One more time until August...

The latest updates on www.chspaonline.org include:

1. An Excel spreadsheet with all winners from our recent Best of Colorado contest. Find it at http://www.chspaonline.org/featured-news/2011/05/25/congratulations-to-all-our-best-of-colorado-winners/

2. Links to more information on summer workshops sponsored by yearbook publishers and other organizations... Check them out at http://www.chspaonline.org/workshops/2010/08/21/workshops/

3. Did you misplace your last CHSPA mailing (it should have arrived about two seeks ago)? It contained your All-Colorado instructions and entry form, which you can download from http://www.chspaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/2011-12-Renewal-CHSPA-member-form.pdf (You can also find the forms for retired adviser memberships, professional memberships and new member media on our Membership page under "About CHSPA.")

A final reminder to vote in the 2011 CHSPA Officer election, which closes at 9 p.m. tonight (May 26). There were 145 eligible voters among current and retired advisers, and 43 have voted, which is actually a great response. But we would love to hear from 102 others. You have received an initial email and a Tuesday morning follow-up, but if those can't be found, click on http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BJL8CW2 and weigh in by 9 p.m.

For those of you who are looking for some professional growth this summer, CHSPA again is offering the Summer Adviser Workshop (with strands for both new advisers and veterans), at Smoky Hill HS June 20-21, and at CSU in Fort Collins July 20-21. I am attaching the brochure to this email, and you can, as always, find a copy on our website.

Please don't forget to mail in your publication or video broadcast before you take off for some well-deserved summer relaxation. We have dozens of judges eager to give you some feedback, and you will have their thoughts back in August, in time to help in planning for next school year. It's part of your basic membership in CHSPA. You literally have nothing to lose (beyond the cost of postage).

It's been a terrific year for Colorado scholastic journalism, and your state organization has big plans to help you do your job even better next time around.

All the best!

CHSPA Thursday Note - May 19, 2011

Just a couple quick reminders (all there is time for when the end of the school year obligations pile up!):

Don't forget to vote in the 2011-13 CHSPA officer election. You should have received an email with the Survey Monkey link. If you no longer have that email, look for a second email, only to those who have not yet voted, which I have scheduled to be sent at 7:15 a.m., Tuesday, May 24. The election closes at 9 p.m. May 26.

I hope member advisers received our last mailing of the school year, which contained both membership renewal information for 2011-12 school year, and instructions and entry form for All-Colorado. We have lined up dozens of judges from across the country, including six former national journalism teachers of the year. A lot of folks would like to see what Colorado scholastic journalism is up to, which is a tribute to you! 

I hope you will agree that All-Colorado is relatively painless. Please contact me if you have questions, but know that June 6 is the postmark deadline for all entries. If you didn't receive that mailing, please let me know, but you can go to http://www.chspaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/All-Colorado-entry-and-instructions-2011.pdf to download the entry form.

A final congratulations to your student winners in our first Best of Colorado competition. We hope the certificates provided you a suitable opportunity to honor your talented and hard-working editors and staff. At some point early next week I will send you directions on how to a) check out the master spreadsheet of all the winners online, and b) how to view or download the top entries from the contest website. There were some terrific entries and they can serve as great examples for next year's staffs.

May your outdoor graduations ceremonies be held between rain showers,

World Press Freedom Day

Washington, D.C. was the site of the May 3 conference, the first time this has been held on American soil. The lessons and the other support material can help in teaching press rights and responsibilities for years to come.


Below is the message Frank LoMonte, from the SPLC, sent out to schools across the country:

Friends,
The Student Press Law Center has prepared a lesson plan for use with your classes next week in conjunction with the celebration of World Press Freedom Day on May 3. World Press Freedom Day was declared by UNESCO in 1993, and this year is the first time that the commemoration events are being held in the United States, so this is a rare opportunity when the eyes of the world are focused on our country and the state of its own press freedoms:

http://www.splc.org/presentations/lp-wpfd.pdf
http://www.splc.org/presentations/lp-wpfd-notes.pdf

We also hope that each of you will consider using all of your social-media resources – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn – to share the following message on Monday, May 2, so that the 800 delegates attending World Press Freedom Day will hear our voices:

Free the Press – All of It, #wpfd

If you are so inclined, we’d of course love for you to link to the SPLC’s World Press Freedom Day page,www.splc.org/wpfd, along with your tweet or status update. And if your students do an editorial or something else creative to call attention to World Press Freedom Day, please let us know at director@splc.org and we’ll happily link to it.

Many thanks, again, to our good friends at the NSPA and the JEA for helping to underwrite the SPLC’s efforts to call attention to the press-freedom issues confronting student journalists, including the April 15 Washington Postad that you can find (and re-distribute) at www.splc.org/wpfd.

-- Frank D. LoMonte, Esq.
Executive Director
Student Press Law Center1101 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1100
Arlington, VA  22209-2211
(703) 807-1904, ext. 121 phone
(703) 807-2109 fax
director@splc.org
www.splc.org

CHSPA Thursday Note - May 5, 2011

First, my apologies for sending this on Friday morning -- a delay in our video media contest gummed up the works... but that is my segue to those awaiting Best of Colorado Award certificates: for yearbook and newspaper advisers, your certificates are either in your hands or in the mail (sent Tuesday first class); video broadcast awards will be in today's first class mail.

Best of Colorado highlights

1. There were 923 individual entries in newspaper (in 25 categories). Classification breakdown: 23 5A, 18 4A and 10 3A.

2. There were 821 individual entries in yearbook (in 24 categories). Classification breakdown: 17 5A, 12 4A, and 9 3A

3. There were 90 individual entries in video broadcast (in 21 categories). All are judged in one class, and there were 9 schools that entered.

4. BOC is not exactly equivalent to our former Sweepstakes competition, but just FYI, here are last year's participation figures: 

        Newspaper = 5A 29, 4A 22, 3A 14. Yearbook = 5A 18, 4A 10, 3A 10. Video had 7 entries in 2010.

5. The contest site worked well, once everyone got the hang of it. The biggest mistake I made was in not having everyone create PDFs in the "smallest size," and in not asking for all multiple page/spread entries to be combined into one PDF. Those two things really slowed down the process of uploading and downloading the entries, but will be an easy fix for next spring.

6. Some advisers felt rushed with the March 31 deadline, but as the contest matures, I hope everyone will begin to plan for this annual competition and find ways to copy likely entries into a special CHSPA BOC folder as the year progresses. The most time-consuming part of the process is digging through folders to find submissions.

7. Later in May, I will be posting examples of top entries in each category online (probably using our contest website), along with the general judging comments I received. I will also post the entire spreadsheet of place-winners on www.chspaonline.org, so you can get a picture of the depth and breadth of the winners.

8. The CHSPA board welcomes any and all ideas that you have on the Best of Colorado contest. Feel free to send them to this email (chspaboard@gmail.com) or directly to me at jpkjournalism@gmail.com.

State Scholarship winners - Congratulations!

1. Teresa Halac of Rocky Mountain HS was chosen as the Dorothy Greer Scholarship winner (also known as the Colorado Journalist of the Year), and there were two runners-up: Madison Mansheim of Salida HS, and Ryan Winter, of Mountain Vista HS. 

2. Jordan Fricke, of Englewood HS, is this year's Eric Benson Scholarship winner.

Quick items of interest

1. Congratulations to Cassa Niedgringhaus of Rocky Mountain HS, who is the Colorado winner of the Al Neuharth Free Spirit Scholarship. She will enjoy an all-expenses paid trip to the national conference at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. this summer, as well as a $1,000 scholarship.

2. The Summer Adviser Workshop (SAW) will be held in two locations this summer, for your convenience. The first section will be at Smoky Hill HS in Aurora, June 20-21 (Monday and Tuesday). The second section will be held at Colorado State University on July 20-21 (Wednesday and Thursday). Much more information will be coming your way soon (via email and snail mail), but I know many of you need to to know these dates.

3. The 2011 ReThink Workshop will be held June 14-16 this summer, at Rock Canyon HS. A new addition this year is an optional Wordpress workshop on June 17, focused on advisers having a working website ready for a new school year. Again, much more information coming your way, but you can check things out at  http://coloradorethink.wordpress.com/

4. Speaking of summer workshops: if you and/or your students are interested in exploring investigative journalism, the first-ever I-News Investigative Journalism Institute will be held at the University of Denver July 18-22. The award-winning professionals from the Rocky Mountain Investigative News Network will take advisers and students through the entire process (and spotting wrongdoing and uncovering hidden information are valuable skills in any profession). Go to www.inewsnetwork.org to learn more and to find the online application. You will find additional information on the CHSPA site, as we are pleased to endorse this new option for journalism education in our state.

One last thing

Look for a mailing next week that will include instructions for entering your publication in the inaugural All-Colorado Awards, as well as election information for CHSPA officers for 2011-13, and your membership renewal form for 2011-12. 

At CHSPA, we sincerely hope everyone not only survives the end of the school year, but thrives. 

Jack Kennedy

CHSPA Executive Director

CHSPA Thursday Note - April 21, 2011

I apologize for the lack of a Thursday Note for several weeks, but I hope you enjoy this one. It's full of good news! Letters of congratulations to the winners and their principals have been sent, so look for certificates, etc., in your school mail. At the risk of beating the snail mail to your hands, I just couldn't wait any longer to share!

1. The winner of the $2,000 Dorothy Greer Scholarship (also known as the Colorado High School Journalist of the Year) is Tess Halac, Rocky Mountain HS. The committee named two runners-up: Madison Mansheim, Salida HS; and Ryan Winter, Mountain Vista HS. They will each receive a $500 scholarship.

2. The winner of the $600 Eric Benson Scholarship is Jordan Fricke, Englewood HS. There were 13 finalists for these annual scholarships. Congratulations to the students and their advisers! And thanks to Kristi Rathbun for coordinating the scholarship competition.

3. The winners from our Feb. 15 Capitol Hill Press Conference newswriting contest: 

1st place =  Jessica Zook and Sam Katzman, Conifer HS

2nd place = Jessica Lyons and Macy Morgan, Mountain Vista HS

4. Winners from the Capitol Hill broadcast video contest:

1st place = Rebecca Erickson and Jordan Fricke, Englewood HS

5. Winners from the March 12 "Real Pirates" press conference news-feature writing contest (all these contests were judged by staff at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science):

1st place = Sam Katzman, Conifer HS

2nd place = Kelly Laughlin, Grandview HS

6. Winners from the "Real Pirates" review writing contest:

1st place = Tyler Blair, Smoky Hill HS

2nd place = Josh Ferge, Englewood HS

7. Winners from the "Real Pirates" photojournalism contest

1st place = TC Scaggiari, Englewood HS

2nd place = Alex Sorrell, Smoky Hill HS

3rd place = Emily Ward, Palmer Ridge HS

8. NSPA Best of Show - Anaheim Convention, awarded on April 16

Middle School Yearbooks - 2nd place - "Eagle Eye View," Sierra MS, Parker

Newsmagazines - 10th place - "Smoky Hill Express," Smoky Hill HS

Yearbooks 325+ pages - 8th place - "Summit," Smoky Hill HS

Yearbooks 275-324 pages - 7th place - "Aerie," Mountain Vista HS

9. NSPA National Pacemaker Award, presented April 16 in Anaheim

"Eagle Eye View," Sierra MS, Parker

"Spud," from Idaho Falls, Idaho, advised by former Lamar adviser Ryan Hansen (we cheer for former Coloradans!)

10. Our Rising Star advisers: Anastasia Harrison, Karen Wagner and Kathy Gustad received their awards during the JEA Adviser Luncheon on April 16.

11. JEA National Write-Off winners (listed by category):

Newswriting - Excellent - Hannah Kim, Smoky Hill HS

Editorial Writing - Honorable Mention - Alex Sorrell, Smoky Hill HS

Sports Writing - Honorable Mention - Nicole Martinez, Smoky Hill HS

Review Writing - Excellent - Tyler Blair, Smoky Hill HS

News Editing and Headline Writing - Excellent - Nathan Bobb, Fort Collins HS

Yearbook Copy/Caption Sports - Superior - Adrianna Brown, Mountain Vista HS

Yearbook Copy/Caption Academics - Honorable Mention - Megan Cook, Mountain Vista HS

Computer Design/Infographics - Excellent - Monica Roesner, Fort Collins HS

Photography Portfolio - Excellent - Cody Enboden, Mountain Vista HS

Photography Portfolio - Honorable Mention - Kendra Reid, Smoky Hill HS

I might have missed someone in the chaos, so let me know if that is the case. Samples of winning work from the Capitol Hill Press Conference (many thanks to coordinator Mimi Wahlfeldt) and the "Real Pirates" press conference (many thanks to Heather Hope of the DMNS) can be found on our website later this afternoon.

Quick update on the Best of Colorado awards: The judges have the 1,800 entries with a deadline of April 28 for all judging to be complete. I already have results from two of the seven professionals (five from Kansas, one from Washington, and one from Colorado) and two out-of-state advisers judging this spring, and plan to have certificates in the mail to your school not later than May 3. Thanks to everyone for your patience with this new approach to individual contests, and all the uploading, etc. I learned a lot from the experience (and hope to make next year smoother for all -- but more about that later).

We should all be very proud of our fine student journalists and their advisers. 

CHSPA Thursday Note - March 24, 2011

It's difficult to believe, but the end of March is just a week away. I would like to bring some BIG deadlines to your attention:

Best of Colorado

1. March 31 at midnight is the final deadline to have your Best of Colorado entries uploaded to our contest site. I have emailed all advisers of CHSPA member media, with your log-in and password to access the site (the original email went out March 1). I am worried aboutchspaboard@gmail.com emails going to SPAM folders, so I also sent a snail mail first class letter to all advisers of CHSPA member media as a reminder. That was about 10 days ago. 

2. Here is where you can find everything you need (in case my attachments have disappeared):

    Our contest site = http://www.chspacontests.org/dm/ (this is where you log-in to upload PDFs)

    Newspaper and Yearbook contest instructions are at http://www.chspaonline.org/contests/individual-student/

    The contest entry forms (Word docs) are at http://www.chspaonline.org/contests/individual-student/

    The video media entry form is also at http://www.chspaonline.org/contests/individual-student/

    As video media adviser have been told, you don't actually upload files. Instead, you just paste the link to your online video site(s).

3. PLEASE don't wait until 11:30 p.m. next Thursday to try out the contest site. If you are having difficulties, let me know ASAP. 

4. Reminder #1: each CHSPA member medium can enter each category ONCE. Please follow the naming conventions in the instructions. If you have an in-depth news entry that appeared on multiple pages, use the same naming convention as you did for columns.

5. Reminder #2: PLEASE keep clicking through the folders that appear on the contest site until you are inside YOUR folder (normally the name of your publication). THEN you can quickly upload all your files at once, or you can upload them one at a time.

6. Reminder #3: PLEASE remember to fill out the correct entry form for your medium, complete with student names. Upload that document to the contest site, as well.

Teacher of the Year

1. Nominations must be postmarked NLT March 31. I know most advisers prefer not to promote themselves, but at least consider passing on this information to an editor or your principal. They can take it from there, and it is relatively low stress.

2. You can download the nomination form at http://www.chspaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/TOY-nomination-form1.pdf

Administrator of the Year

1. Nominations must be postmarked NLT March 31. A supportive administrator is priceless in this business. Consider nominating a worthy administrator and acknowledging that person's valuable contributions to your program.

2. You can download the nomination for at http://www.chspaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/AOY-Nomination-form.pdf

A final note: Those who have experimented with the contest site have found that it works well, if the instructions are followed. Entry costs are covered by your membership dues, so consider one or more entries. I know it will take some valuable time, but the pay-off in May with possible awards will make that effort in the next week worthwhile. Far be it from me to worry... but as of this moment I see in yearbook: 1 3A school entered; 0 4A schools entered, and 4 5A schools entered; in newspaper I see 1 3A school entered, 5 4A schools entered, and 3 5A schools entered; and I have received one entry form thus far from video media. If you are wondering if your PDFs have been successfully uploaded, please log-in to the contest site and check your folder. You should be able to see everything you have submitted. If that doesn't satisfy you, please send me an email at either chspaboard@gmail.com or jpkjournalism@gmail.com and I will try to set your mind at ease.

Best wishes!

Jack Kennedy

CHSPA Executive Director

p.s. Hey, did you see that the AP Stylebook just this week changed "e-mail" to "email"? Time to update our own stylebooks, perhaps!

CHSPA Thursday Note - Feb. 10, 2011

1. A final reminder regarding Capitol Hill Press Conference registration: please get your registration in by the Feb. 15 deadline. Contact Mimi Wahlfeldt at memo4mimi@comcast.net directly with specific questions, but I know she plans to send final directions, etc., to all registrants on Monday.

2. Another final reminder: Portfolios for the Greer or Benson Scholarships must be postmarked by Feb. 15. The procedures are the same for the two awards, with one exception: the Benson Scholarship simply requires a letter stating financial need to be added. All the forms and directions you need for this can be found at www.chspaonline.org, under the Scholarships tab.

3. Have you registered for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science special press conference for high school journalists on their "Real Pirates" exhibit? I am attaching a JPG of the back of the postcard you should have received from Heather Hope (former Littleton HS journalist) at the museum. And here is a link to an article on this exhibit in today's Denver Post, just to whet your appetite: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_17345705 The event will be March 12, but the registration deadline is Feb. 27.

4. TaRhonda Thomas, 9NEWS reporter and co-chair of the Colorado Association of Black Journalists, has asked for our help in publicizing this year's CABJ Scholarships, and it is a pleasure to do so. I have attached the directions and application forms to this e-mail, and hope you can encourage your African-American student journalists to check out this opportunity. There are two $1,000 awards and one $2,500 scholarship available.

5. Finally, Scholastic Journalism Week is Feb. 20-25, and everyone is encouraged to highlight the educational value (and, of course, the many successes) of your scholastic media program. One relatively low-stress but high-impact project to get your students involved in the week is to have them research and participate in the "TAO of Journalism" pledge (www.taoofjournalism.org/)

Kathy Schrier, long-time adviser from the state of Washington, writes: The TAO Pledge asks journalists to promise that they will be "Transparent" about who they are and how the story was developed; "Accountable" for, and willing to correct any errors; and "Open" to other points of view. This idea, introduced by the Washington News Council (www.wanewscouncil.org) with grant funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is gaining traction with media organizations around the world.

The Journalism Education Association has endorsed the TAO of Journalism Pledge as one way student media can instill trust in their programs and are encouraged to sign the Pledge on Wednesday of Scholastic Journalism Week (Feb. 23.) Why not invite school administrators to endorse it, and sign it as well? Taking the TAO Pledge might help counter administrative threats of prior review.

Any student media group who takes the TAO Pledge will be listed on the TAO of Journalism website with a link to their URL. They will receive a downloadable version of the TAO of Journalism Seal to post in their masthead. They will also receive, in the mail, a display version of the TAO of Journalism Pledge that can be posted as a public reminder of their commitment to ethical journalism.

BONUS for student media groups who take the TAO Pledge during Scholastic Journalism Week (Feb. 20-25, 2011): Temporary tattoos of the TAO of Journalism Seal for all staff members!