Publications and productions are invited to submit pieces that localize regional, national and international issues for their own school communities.

Submissions can be artwork, charts or diagrams, documentaries, editorials, essays, fiction, news or feature stories, single photos or photo illustrations, photo essays, poetry, pod casts, PSAs, special pages, special sections, slide shows or yearbook spreads.

By tradition, the Fall Contest emphasizes subject matters that the Special Achievement Contests do not explicitly include.

The deadline for receipt of entries at Boston University is Friday, Jan. 15, 2010.

Winners will be notified by April 1 and results will be announced at the annual spring conference.

In addition, the winners are announced in the summer issue of NESPA News.

How to Enter:

Please send the broadcast or published work with the entry information and fee.

Send in the web link to online entries with the information requested below.

Limit of three entries per medium.

Each entry must have been broadcast or published between September 1 and December 31, 2009. Yearbook entries must have been created during this same period.

Preparation of Entries:

Print media please send complete page, unmounted tearsheet on which entry appears. Broadcasters please send DVD or podcast.

Tape a sheet to the back of EACH entry with the following the information: title of entry, name of the publication/broadcast, student(s) name(s) to be recognized, school’s full name, school address, school phone, school email and adviser’s signature.

Entry Fee:

NONE for NESPA members in good standing as of May 1, 2009; $3 per entry for nonmembers.

Please include $5 for postage and handling for each entry you want returned.

You must note which entry(ies) you wish returned.

Send Entries To:

New England Scholastic Press Association
Helen F. Smith, executive director
Boston University, College of Communication
640 Commonwealth Ave.,
Boston, Mass. 02215.

Possible Topics to Localize:

• Absenteeism
• Cell phones
• College admissions
• Economic recession
• Eligibility requirements for athletes
• Fitness and its challenges
• First Amendment issues
• Funding for the arts
• Gambling
• Human rights
• Internet use and misuse
• Job market
• Medical and scientific advances
• Nutrition
• Race relations
• School lunches
• School safety standards
• School security
• Social networking sites
• Special education
• Substance abuse
• Teenagers’ rights in the work place
• User fees
• Vandalism and graffiti
• Women’s issues