We are honored to welcome Senate President Brandon Shaffer and Speaker of the House Frank McNulty to the event. They will answer questions from students in attendance. (As of Tuesday morning we have 37 students and 15 advisers registered, from 13 schools.)

We are also delighted that Nancy Mitchell, news editor for Education News Colorado, will serve as our professional “guide” Friday morning. She will help everyone with press conference protocol as well as refining questions and sharing some issues she has been following. If you haven’t checked out the EdNews website, you are missing out on one of the best sources for coverage ideas available.

Participants also receive a “tip sheet,” complete with event details and on-the-spot contest information.

You can download the entry form here, and it can be mailed directly to Leticia (along with the essay entries) at:

Colorado Pro SPJ High School Essay Contest
c/o Leticia Steffen
Colorado State University-Pueblo
2200 Bonforte Blvd, BCC 103Q
Pueblo, CO 81001

More information on the contest can be found at: http://www.spj.org/a-hs.asp

The Capitol Hill Press Conference, Friday, Feb. 10, in the Old Supreme Court Chambers, is exactly that cool opportunity. Check in begins at 8 a.m., with the event beginning at 8:30 with some orientation to state education issues and discussion of press conference procedures. Senate President Brandon Shaffer and Speaker of the House Frank McNulty are tentatively scheduled to each spend 30 minutes answering student questions.

As usual, all that information gathering will be followed by on-the-spot writing and video clip contests, and students will compete in two-person teams. Due to logistical considerations, two students from each CHSPA member medium may attend (which means that a school with memberships in newspaper, yearbook and video broadcast could bring six students). We hope advisers will attend, of course, and recommend a relaxing downtown lunch after the contest concludes (results back by the end of February).

Download a copy of the event flyer to share with students and/or post in your room. Download the registration PDF, which you can save to your computer, open with Adobe Acrobat Reader, fill in and save. Just attach your saved form to an email to jpkjournalism@gmail.com and you are done.

Registration is free for CHSPA media members, but please get your registration form sent prior to Feb. 8.

Questions! Email Jack Kennedy at jpkjournalism@gmail.com or call at 303–550-4755.

Best of Show
The Best of Show competition is open to all media represented by at least one student at the convention, and in most categories ten places are announced during the NSPA Awards Ceremony on Saturday afternoon.

Colorado place winners included:

Newspapers 13–16 pp
7. Rocky Mountain Highlighter, Rocky Mountain HS, Fort Collins, Colo.
Cassa Niedringhaus, editor
Stephen Wahlfeldt, adviser

Newsmagazine
10. The Rock, Rock Canyon HS, Highlands Ranch, Colo.
Lauren Scheirman, editor
Kristi Rathbun, adviser

Literary Magazine
7. The Looking Glass, Rocky Mountain HS, Fort Collins, Colo.
Colleen Maline/Jim Glenn, advisers

Junior High Yearbook
2. Imprints, Mesa MS, Castle Rock, Colo.
Ally Clancy, editor
Melissa Larson, adviser

3. Eagle Eye View, Sierra MS, Parker, Colo.
Emily Biffinger, Tyler Eatherton, editors
Jed Palmer, adviser

Yearbook 225–274 pp
6. The Black and Gold, Rock Canyon HS, Highlands Ranch, Colo.
Jackie Marthouse, Lauren Packer, Brianna Vail, editors
Kristi Rathbun, adviser

Individual National Contest results

NSPA partners with various professional organizations in individual contests in writing, design, photography and multimedia. Colorado winners included:

Photo of the Year - Junior High / Middle School

First Place
Madeline Malhotra
Eagle Eye View, Sierra MS, Parker, Colo.

Fifth Place
MaKenna Zoglmann
Eagle Eye View, Sierra MS, Parker, Colo

Design of the Year

Honorable Mention
Zoe Faselt, Julia Murphy
The Surveyor, George Washington HS, Denver, Colo.

Write-Off Competition
An onsite opportunity for students at each JEA/NSPA convention is the National Write-Off Competition, which offers a mix of carry-in and on-the-spot competitions in everything from newswriting to newspaper design to copy editing to website reporting.

In Minneapolis, 1,678 students participated in the contests, and about 40 percent earned one of three award designations: superior, excellent and honorable mention.

Colorado honorees included:

Fahey Zink, Rocky Mountain HS, honorable mention in Feature Writing

Calvin Jouard, Rocky Mountain HS, excellent in Sports Writing

Michelle Kennedy, Rocky Mountain HS, honorable mention in Yearbook Academic Writing

Cam Chorpenning, Rocky Mountain HS, honorable mention in Yearbook Clubs Writing

Zaylee Corrella, Palisade HS, honorable mention in Yearbook Cover/Endsheet Design

Advisers provide national leadership
Colorado advisers played an important part in the convention, both in terms of leadership and in terms of instruction and honors.

Angela Banfield, CJE, adviser at Coronado HS, was awarded her Certified Journalism Educator certificate during the Awards Luncheon on Saturday afternoon.

Mark Newton, MJE, adviser at Mountain Vista HS, led his first JEA Board of Directors meeting as president of JEA, the only organization in the nation with a primary duty to represent scholastic media advisers. Carrie Faust, MJE, adviser at Smoky Hill HS, distinguished herself at her first JEA Board of Directors meeting as Southwest Regional Director. And Jack Kennedy, MJE, was also on hand as past president of JEA.

Teaching one of more of the learning sessions available at the convention were: Mark Newton, MJE, Carrie Faust, MJE, Kristi Rathbun, CJE, (Rock Canyon HS), Sheila Jones and Sean Duffy (Englewood HS), and Jack Kennedy, MJE.

Katy Gray, retired adviser from Moffat County HS, and a JEA Mentor, was part of continuing mentoring training at the convention.

The next JEA/NSPA convention is April 12–15 in Seattle.

The Best Safety Blanket: The First Amendment
by Joanie Lyons, Mountain Vista HS
First Place winner – CHSPA – CU-Boulder Constitution Day – 9-17-2011

As said by Justice Lewis Powell, “In seeking out the news, the press… acts as an agent for the public at large. It is the means by which the people receive the free flow of information ideas essential to effective self-government.”

As high school journalists, and journalists in general, we find the “newsworthy” bits and pieces of information that are essential to all.

Within reason, we have rights of free expression. The freedoms of press, religion, assembly, petition and speech are five inter-related freedoms we are able to use in a respectable manner.

The rights instilled by our founding fathers are miraculous. Because of the First Amendment and the laws thatColoradohas granted high school journalists, we have the ability to choose what content goes into our publications.

In most states in our country, the concept of a publication having that much power is unheard of.Coloradois one of seven states in the country to give rights of free expression in public high schools.

But becauseColoradois one of the few with minimal censorship rules, it helps create a course that avoids the extremes of being liable for something that is something the reader should know about.

In our state, these freedoms make us feel like we have a safety blanket wrapped around us. That blanket gives us security in knowing we can speak freely without censorship.

At Mountain Vista, for many of us high school journalists, we would sometimes not even know what to report on if we could not report anything with conflict and controversy.

It would be strange to live in a world where we could not tell a story that had that little fleck of controversy.

But because we live in such an ideal environment, we can celebrate our vocation and exert our rights as journalists. We can write what we find “newsworthy,” within reason, and that in itself is magnificent from a journalistic standpoint.

Constitution Day Editorial
by Lori Schafer, Overland HS
Tied – Second Place, CHSPA – CU-Boulder Constitution Day – 9-17-2011

Someone takes offense at EVERYTHING we say. That IS the proof we are doing our job because nothing is PERFECT, and we refuse to let it appear that way.

Without the First Amendment that is what every form of media would look and sound like. Only little bits and pieces would be left in place. The rest would be taken out and censored because, as humans, we like to get offended.

As journalists, it is our job to inform society of these things. It is our job to hold people accountable for their actions. Whether it be your everyday person on the street who committed a crime or a well-known person in authority who did something wrong accidentally or intentionally, it is something to be reported.

High school journalists should be given freedom from censorship andColoradohas found the perfect balance in giving us our First Amendment rights.

No one truly understands the effect of the First Amendment until it is taken away. I had it taken from me once. My newspaper staff had it taken from them once. Almost as if someone is choking you, you cannot utter a word. You no longer have the freedom to say what you want or need to because that hand has closed in on you.

In March of this year, our school newspaper was censored and shut down. We were censored because the administration did not like what we were writing about the school; they did not want to face the reality check that we were giving them. The death that was written about was backed up with facts, paperwork, documents and interviews. None of it was libelous or made up.

High school journalists are not out to get their school, or anyone else. They write to try to make a difference, to try to improve their school. The newspaper is the voice of the school.Coloradohas recognized this importance, outlining our rights and allowing our voices to be heard. In the end, our fight was won because our state government protected us.

Student Journalism from a Student Journalist’s Perspective
by Riley McCloskey, Mountain Vista HS
Tied – Second Place, CHSPA – CU-Boulder Constitution Day – 9-17-2011

Students are journalists too, you know. And – speaking for all of us student journalists – we should have the same degree of rights that professionals do.

Morality and common sense guide most of the “open forum” rights thatColoradogrants to student journalists. Don’t lie, don’t provoke anyone, don’t threaten anyone, and don’t slander anyone. Basic stuff.

I’m 16, but I still have morals and am old enough to know right from wrong (isn’t that kindergarten stuff?). I know the power of my writing and I know what boundaries to never cross – so do most high school journalists.

Sure, there might be that student who got on the newspaper so they can embarrass others and infect an honest publication with their anger, but that isn’t every student journalist. That’s also why there are advisers and editors that stand as a safety net against the disdaining of our newspapers by those terrifically misguided persons.

That is why states likeColoradocreated a perfect balance between freedom and restriction. They put the responsibility of respectable journalism upon the shoulders of the students. Giving them enough trust to say what they want while also keeping a leash in the form of editors and advisers.

“Students do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech at the schoolhouse gate,” said Justice Abe Fortas during the Tinker vs.Des Moines decision.

Students aren’t censored while they tweet away or write on every wall across Facebook – why should they give up their rights when they contribute to something bigger and more professional, like a student publication?

We have a right to take action against the idea that student journalists are too young or too naïve or even too whimsical to carry the responsibility of good journalism.

Colorado, Oregon, California, Kansas, Iowa, Arkansas, Illinois and Massachusetts all took action to allow student journalists to publish what they want without the school administration micromanaging their content.

These states achieve a perfect balance between freedom and restriction. And any Colorado student journalist will verify that.

The Best of Show awards completed the day, and featured our first Website Best of Show award. Check out the results here.

As of Oct. 8, we have nearly 90 advisers and over 1,380 students registered. If you have registered, you should have received an email with final details on Friday, Oct. 7.  But, just in case, that message is pasted here:

1. Best of Show has been expanded. Check out the instructions in the Best of Show attachment. Yearbook has some big changes, and we have a first-ever online publication contest. There are no entry fees beyond your registrations. All the paperwork for Best of Show happens right at the registration desk. Just bring your submissions and we will get you signed up quickly.

You can read all about Knopper on his website.

CHSPA provides pizza and lemonade at 5:30 p.m. in Lory Student Center. The night takes place in the Long’s Peak room, on Lory’s second floor. Want to attend? Just fill out our interactive PDF and attach it to an email to chspaboard@gmail.com not later than Oct. 5.

And the registration price of $10 for the day can’t be beat.

Download our interactive PDF registration form, and attach it to an email to Executive Director Jack Kennedy at jpkjournalism@gmail.com not later than Sept. 15. Payment will be separately, by check.

Sessions will be offered in print journalism and online publications, and it is also a great chance to get a look at the CSU-Pueblo campus, which has been extensively renovated in the past two years.