Hello, everyone.

PSPA is excited to bring you the 2021 Fall Regional Student Journalism Competitions!

The contests will be held virtually, with students competing according to geographic region. Winners in each competition category will advance to the state finals from their respective regions to compete against other regional winners from around the state. See the map below to determine your region for competition (based on the county in which your school is located).

The attached promotional flyer is complete with important dates, an adviser to-do list to prepare for the contests, important changes to our contests this year, and detailed competition categories.

I sent out an email to all advisors with rubrics and yearbook design paper as well.

Make sure that your videographers are looking through their creations and/or planning ahead for categories 15BN and 15BF. Also, make sure that your photographers are looking for their best five photos that fit the following categories: framing shot, emotion shot, unique angle shot, frozen action shot, and best-in-show shot. They will have to create captions/cutlines for each. All other categories will compete during the allotted three-day window, as explained on the flyer.

As of now, Finals will be held on the Penn State University main campus in State College on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. We'll continue to monitor the public health and travel situations and be in touch as the school year unfolds with updates surrounding Finals.

If you know of any schools with journalism programs in your region who have not yet connected with us, please feel free to share my email with them. We've waived membership dues again this year, making it a great, free opportunity for them to showcase their students' skills at the regional level for a chance to compete for a state championship, not to mention network with so many incredible advisers.

Thank you for all you do! If you have any questions in the meantime, or if PSPA can support you in any way, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Best,
Aaron

Dr. Stacey Aronow, Souderton Area High School newspaper adviser, has been named the 2021-2022 Pennsylvania School Press Association state Journalism Teacher of the Year.

Aronow has been the adviser to the Souderton Arrowhead newspaper since 1998 and served on the Pennsylvania School Press Association (PSPA) board from 2007-2010. During that time, she also serve several years as PSPA secretary.

Her students publish a 36 page newspaper six times a year that serves not only the school community but the wider community through The Arrowhead Online. The Arrowhead has earned many awards from PSPA, Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) and National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) during her tenure. She has served as a conference speaker for PSPA, CSPA and NSPA over her time at Souderton.

Her colleague and nominator, Joanne Jiruska, shared that “The Arrowhead covers both school and community events, striving to provide a service that extends beyond the walls of our school. Under Stacey’s tutelage, The Arrowhead program has doubled in size in the last four years and currently boasts 85 students across all grade and ability levels.”
“The program is self-funded through student-generated advertising and is run like a business, providing students with a truly authentic experience. Every student has the opportunity to be published, and Stacey counsels each one on writing with integrity and ethics. Highly motivated students have the opportunity to interview for Editorial Board positions. The Arrowhead staff is an integral part of our school community, professionally covering events both joyous and tragic; whenever something noteworthy is happening, The Arrowhead is there,” said Jiuska.
Her principal, Samuel Varano, EdD, indicated that Aronow has been a district leader in and has made a lasting impact on many students, not just those on her staff. “Dr. Aronow’s influence goes far beyond the production of an award-winning newspaper.” Her influence extends to the wider school population. “Dr. Aronow was the teacher who had the greatest impact upon them in their school career,” said Varano.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Dear New Voices advisers and friends,

The last several months have been uniquely challenging for student journalists, but they've presented us with an opportunity to completely change the conversation around the stories students are trying to tell and the ways in which censorship impacts your entire communities. COVID-19 brought new challenges, an increasing focus on the importance of student media and, unfortunately, a whole new swath of subjective and dangerous censorship. We want to take these stories to your legislators.

SPLC has put together a COVID-19 Journalism Survey and we need your help in getting it out to students and advisers across your state. This is going to be an IMPORTANT part of our New Voices work throughout 2021, so getting this out to as many student journalists as possible is key. Please begin distributing this survey to your staff and friends, through your social media networks, to any outreach lists you have put together, and to any advisers and student media programs across your state as soon as possible. 

This survey is intended to capture information about the scope of COVID-19 censorship, whether or not students yet realize they have been censored. Any student or adviser may fill it out, and their contact information will be kept confidential unless the student or adviser consents to its release.

We are collecting responses from this survey through January 31 in the hopes of using them both in conversation with legislators and to spark a nationwide conversation about student journalism and student media censorship. Please reach out to your networks more than once this month. Remember that the more responses from your state, the stronger the argument we can make in support of student press freedom. Your legislators have no idea what you've been through this year, and we cannot let them ignore it. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Thanks so much for your help on this.

Best,
Hillary

The Student Journalism Competitions (SJC), which are normally held in the Fall, will be help remotely this year. 

The prompts and information will be sent out to advisers in January. The students will have from January 25 until February 5 to compete in their chosen category.

The board is working on finalizing the details for registration, prompts, rules, and creating an adviser "To-do" list.

Keep checking our website and social media pages for updates. We will also be emailing advisors. Please reach out with questions.

Journalism education stretches year-round for many of us. After such a challenging school year, we are especially excited to share Pennsylvania-based summer journalism education that is free. 

Point Park University is offering a wonderful opportunity for journalism educators and student journalists to continue learning from experts this summer. The Pittsburgh-based university has planned a robust schedule of webinars on a diverse collection of topics.

Several of our PSPA members are leading webinars designed for other advisers and teachers, themed on topics that we brainstormed that might help with some practical knowledge and skills— such as New Voices protections, covering government meetings, yearbook planning, and social media strategies.

Point Park's digital content and PR/advertising webinars are open to both high school students and adults, while their student journalism workshops are designed specifically for high school students. All of the topics are practical, relevant, and designed to support journalism and communications programs. We encourage you to share these opportunities with your publication students.

We're excited to partner with Point Park University on these programs, and we look forward to seeing PSPA advisers and students at the webinars! Please contact SummerCamps@PointPark.edu with any questions.