JEA Georgia Updates - February 2024
Celebrate your staff, diversity and scholastic journalism.
It's the February shuffle.
Dear JEA Georgia colleagues,
I'm hopeful 2024 has been going well and that you, your school and your staff are celebrating Black History Month. I hope you'll consider sharing how your staff is covering not only BHM but showcasing the diversity of your community.
Mark your calendar for an extra-special Scholastic Journalism Week, Feb. 19-23, 2024, as we proudly affirm JEA’s role in education and the future of journalism with the theme “Here to Stay.”
We have some enrichment opportunities right around the corner within the friendly confines of our state, as well as our region and our nation. I hope you'll consider attending these events that focus on both adviser and staff development. Likweise, there are a variety of competitions to showcase the excellent work your staff engages in each day.
As always, I appreciate you being a part of the Journalism Education Association.
All the best,
DR
Time sensitive request - due 2/14 - amended deadline!
Time to brag on your students and your program!
State Report
I'd like to take a moment once again to solicit your help. I'm preparing the spring JEA state report. I'm tasked with recording major awards that your students/publications have received since the last report was submitted in spring. If your organization has garnered national recognition of some type since November 2023, please let me know the details so that I can include your information.
Please see the example below from March 2023:
Cedar Shoals High School in Athens, Georgia
The Southern Interscholastic Press Association awarded the following publication ratings and awards:
BluePrints Magazine - All-Southern (highest tier)
BluePrints Online - Superior; 2nd place Best in Show
WJAG-TV - Excellent
I will need this by 2/14, please.
How does your staff showcase diversity?
Share out
I’d love to hear and subsequently share with JEA Georgia members how your staff showcases diversity. Of course, I am curious about how your kids work to cover heritage and diversity months. From print coverage, to broadcast, social media to digital packages, what goes into the process and products the students take on?
As my students brainstorm ideas, we talk about moving beyond tokenism and how to secure authentic and consistent coverage yearlong rather than one month a year. Some tough talks ensue but without them, coverage can degenerate into meme-worthy schlock.
Please consider sharing resources, finished products or your personal insight. I'll compile and share out in our next newsletter. In the meantime, I’m sharing a link from my esteemed colleague AJ Chambers that does an excellent job of celebrating history and diversity:
Scholastic Journalism Week
The Journalism Education Association will present Scholastic Journalism Week from Feb. 19-23, 2024. Consider applying to be featured on the JEA Twitter during Scholastic Journalism Week. JEA will email a certificate your school administrators with praise for the great work you are doing.
The theme is “Here to Stay.”
There's no doubt much has changed since 1924, but JEA's goal has stayed constant. From newspapers and yearbooks to podcasts and New Voices, JEA has spent a century honoring students and advisers who have contributed exceptional journalism. During SJW, JEA wants celebrate advisers, programs, classrooms and your colleagues.
For more information, click here.
Journalist of the Year update
Georgia's Champion Journalist - update
The deadline for both the Champion Journalist and Junior Champion Journalist Awards was Jan. 21, 2024.
GSPA received 12 entries for the senior competition and nine for the junior competition this year, which is a step up from the 17 overall entries in 2023 and rivals the 22 from 2022, but higher than the traditional 12-15 historical average.
The 2024 Georgia Champion Journalist and Junior Champion Journalist competitions required entrants to complete an online portfolio of their work following specific guidelines. GSPA will have results in early March, so the top senior will have a week to tweak the portfolio for national competition.
Kudos to advisers and scholastic journalists for taking part!
Disha Kumar
Melanie Frick
Anna Shaikun and Maya Clement
Upcoming events - mark your calendars
Southern Interscholastic Press Association
SIPA 2023
SIPA 2023
SIPA 2022
Southern Interscholastic Press Association
National High School Journalism Convention
The Spring National High School Journalism Convention
The Spring National High School Journalism Convention is April 4-6, 2024, in Kansas City, Missouri, at the Sheraton and Westin at Crown Center. The convention offers hundreds of instructional sessions, keynote speakers from national newsmakers, dozens of media critiques, JEA’s popular on-site media contests and the announcement of NSPA national winners for Pacemaker Awards and Individual Awards. NSPA also offers a convention Best of Show competition that celebrates current student media work.
At the JEA/NSPA High School Journalism Convention in Kansas City, students are able to participate in the National Student Media Contests on late Friday afternoon. We are in need of volunteers to judge the contests starting at 6 p.m. As a judge, not only do you receive a complimentary buffet dinner, you also get to network with other advisers at your table. Judging is also some great professional development. Whether you are new to advising or not, all advisers are welcomed and can be a huge asset to the judging team. Please fill out the link here to volunteer: JEA Volunteer Form Spring 24.
As one last reminder, there will be dozens of sponsoring vendors at an exhibit area in the primary gathering space. Sponsors include companies with products and services for student media, educational institutions marketing to prospective students and organizations seeking to connect with the scholastic journalism community. Free goodies for kids and adults.
GSPA upcoming events
GSPA Spring Workshop
GSPA's Spring Workshop and Awards Ceremony will be held on Monday, March 25, 2024. The event will feature morning sessions from 9 a.m. to noon, which will be followed by a catered luncheon with a keynote speaker and awards.
Gary Green, Student Press Law Center executive director, will deliver the keynote address to high school journalists and teachers during GSPA’s Spring Workshop and Awards Monday, March 25 at the University of Georgia’s Georgia Center for Continuing Education.
“I am pleased to join GSPA for its spring awards presentation and honored to speak to the student journalists who will be recognized for their outstanding work,” Green said. “Student journalists are the lifeblood of the information ecosystem and providing their communities on campus and beyond with critical stories only they can tell.”
Green took on the role at the SPLC in April 2023. Read more about his background here.
Deadline this week!!
Proposals welcome
GSPA student ambassadors 2023-2024
One hundred years of excellence
If you haven't had a chance, please check out the special site honoring the JEA Centennial, which celebrates our community, our legacy and our future. Each week, JEA features new centennial content, such as installments to our 100 lists of 100 series, which we also will highlight on JEA’s social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
All year, this celebration offers ways for our members, students and partners to engage:
The JEA Centennial NSMC contests wrapped up last month. All together 29 students from across the country competed in photo, broadcast and writing contests. Judges recognized 21students recognized with three superior, nine excellent and nine honorable mention awards. A handful of winning entries will be broadcast, displayed or published in JEA publications and/or on its affiliated websites in conjunction with the JEA Centennial.
Ways to say thank you — Share a public note of appreciation for someone in the JEA community through a special “thank-a-member” feature. Check out the first batch of messages here.
Ways to participate — Student media staffs can plan and execute a project big or small to use their skills toward a collective impact of 100 hours of service journalism through March 15.
Ways to give — Donate to JEA’s programs, and/or use the JEA Centennial as an opportunity to contribute to its new endowment to support the association’s long-term sustainability goals in the interests of journalism teachers and their students.
100 things to know about Georgia with a nod towards journalism
With 100 mind, ever wonder what makes journalism in Georgia special? Take a look at 100 interesting tidbits. Special thanks to Stephanie Moreno for helping to curate the list.
FREE weekly curriculum
Curriculum Newsletter
JEA would love to spotlight others - I'd love to spotlight Georgia advisers featured - in upcoming newsletters. Here is the Google Form for that.
Pay it forward - we need mentors
A call for veteran mentors
“For many journalism advisers, we are the only ones at our schools. It is incredibly important to foster relationships within our academic circle, especially building up and mentoring new advisers. It can be a lonely place, especially during that moment in the year when you have a newspaper and yearbook deadline back to back, teaching intro classes or classes in another discipline, all while having colleagues, administrators and parents down your throat because they need something from you.” -- Dr. P.J. Cabrera