Newsletter: Spring 2016 |

NESPA to Host 68th Annual Conference May 2

For details and procedures on membership, conference and workshop registration and entry forms, please download the PDF.

Jason Tuohey, the editor of BostonGlobe.com, will give the keynote speech at the New England Scholastic Press Association conference Monday, May 2.

In his speech, he will emphasize that creative digital shifts make it clear that the core principals of journalism will never change.

He will also discuss where online news is going and the future of media jobs.

Tuohey has managed a team of Web producers at the Globe and overseen its editorial coverage on the Web and mobile and social media since 2011.

In that time the Globe has received honors including the Online News Association’s 2013 Public Service and Breaking News Award, the Society of Newspaper Design’s World’s Best Website Award and the 2014 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Reporting for coverage of the Boston Marathon attacks. He has worked at the Globe since 2006.

Tuohey earned a bachelor’s in English from U. Mass. Amherst in 1999 and a master’s in new media journalism from Northwestern in 2004.

Also at the May 2 conference, delegates will find panels, exhibits, round-tables, lectures and workshops where they can learn about the latest trends, and share concerns and ideas.

With the doors opening at 8, sessions will be from 9 until 2:30 at Boston University’s College of Communication, 640 Commonwealth Ave., Boston.

Students, teachers, Boston University faculty and full-time journalists and media specialists will share information with the aim of supporting excellence in scholastic journalism at NESPA’s 68th annual conference.

For advisers

Helping editors grow as leaders
Sign-ups for detailed publication critiques and on-site visits.

For staffs

Advertising sales and managing the business side
Basic mobile reporting skills
Careers in broadcast journalism
Ethical questions and considerations
Feature writing
How to develop a literary magazine
Investigative reporting
Law and the scholastic press
News writing
Opinion coverage and writing
Photojournalism and digital technology
Sports writing and editing
Systems for covering local news
Yearbook coverage, writing and design.

Awards and recognition

Presentation of the All New England Awards will honor outstanding broadcast, print, print/online and online productions and publications in their school population categories. 

Productions and publications will also receive Special Achievement Awards based on the excellence of individual submissions.

Benefits of pre-registration 

Those whose forms arrive at Boston University by Friday, April 1 will receive a preliminary conference program and speakers’ list, and a list of places to have lunch.

Contests Under Way

The NESPA Publications and Productions Contests are open to all school print and online publications and broadcasts, both NESPA members and non-members. 

Awards will be given to broadcast (audio and video) productions, magazines, newspapers, yearbooks, online/print and online publications. To qualify as online/print, a site must include multi media, not pdfs only.

Judges will consider only entries with working URLs. Submit URL to blogs.bu.edu/nespa. 

DEADLINE for receipt of entries at the College of Communication: Friday, April 1, 2016. 

The NESPA Special Achievement Contests are designed to identify and reward excellence in individual work and teamwork for New England’s secondary school media. 

Entries should be those that advisers and staffs decide have contributed significantly to a student broadcast, print, online/print or online publication. 

DEADLINE for receipt of entries at the College of Communication: Friday, April 1, 2016.

Summer Workshop for News Publication Advisers

The New England Scholastic Press Association invites news publication advisers to a workshop, How to Advise a Scholastic News Publication, June 27- July 1 at Boston University in the College of Communication.

Based on participants’ priorities, sessions will include how to

Keep a journalistic balance
Deal with legal and ethical considerations
Teach the staff to cover the school and its community
Teach the staff to write and edit news, features and sports along with maintaining a lively forum for student opinion
Motivate the staff
Teach fundamentals of photojournalism and design
Maintain a good relationship with the principal, faculty and parents
Use special pages, special sections and spreads as training vehicles
Plan, set goals and schedule copy flow for print and online
Manage the business side
Critique the publication
Make the most of professional resources.

In addition to a variety of lab assignments, participants will present critiques and complete curriculum projects. There will be lectures, discussions and lab work. Sessions will be 10-4 with a break for lunch.

Participants should bring with them a set of news publications students have produced during the 2014-2015 academic year. The fee is $300. The deadline for registration is Friday, May 27.  Click here for the application.

NESPA provides PDPs to Massachusetts teachers.

Helen Smith, executive director of the New England Scholastic Press Association, will be the lead teacher. 
For more information, please contact Helen Smith at phsmith@igc.org.

For details and procedures on membership, conference and workshop registration and entry forms, please download the PDF.