PSPA Board Member Janice Hatfield organizes the newspaper entries. Photo by Michelle Robosky.
PSPA board members and some dedicated Hempfield Area High School students met on Thursday, June 12, with one task before them. One large task.
In one day, they wanted to sort and mail hundreds of PSPA Summer Evaluation entries, composed by some of the best student journalists in Pennsylvania, to judges across Pennsylvania and around the country.
Less than five hours later, they met their goal. Record time.
Earlier this year, I visited with advisers and journalism students attending a workshop at Bloomsburg University. A common theme when I talk “press freedom” with student journalists these days is the need for staff strategies. No single approach will work in all schools, with all administrators, but the ingredients for success are the same—confidence in the value of good journalism, professional and ethical performance as student journalists, and communication that helps the audience (including administrators) understand why and how you do what you do as journalist.
This year in the Pennsylvania School Press Association Individual Entry Literary Magazine contest, the creative students featured in Penncrest High School’s The Gryphon soared above the rest of Pennsylvania’s writers and artists, earning an impressive six Best Of Category awards.
Contest Evaluator Bruce E. Konkle of the University of South Carolina named students published in this year’s The Gryphon tops in the following categories: Light Poetry, Short Story, Play, Serious Essay, Humorous Essay, and Photography. The Gryphon also received a Second best award for Short Story.
PSPA has several board positions open for advisers. If you advise a student publication and would like to apply, fill out the application and submit by fax to Wanda Pletcher at 1-814-941-8561.
Recently retired from Indiana Area Junior High School, Kay Bird received the PSPA 2007-2008 Journalism Teacher of the Year award on November 9, 2007, in Philadelphia at the national convention.
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