Jan. 8, 2023
Our past three editions
Dec. 11, 2023 Shoe germs • Taylor Swift • Peach Fuzz
Dec. 4, 2023 Melatonin use • Teacher contracts • Journalistic use of AI
Nov. 13, 2023 Decorated steering wheels • AI deepfakes • Screentime
THE LEAD
NYT highlights overlooked stories
Instead of highlights of year, examine content that might have been missed
While many highlighted the year, The New York Times took a different approach. After inspecting analytics, the team highlighted content that many readers missed.
What you can do —
For those who have an online component to their student media, look at your own analytics and highlight the local content missed by your readers. This could even be a top three or top 10 approach.
Student journalists could also create an interactive quiz for the top 10 content pieces and include a hyperlink for the overlooked piece.
Noteworthy
Snoop Dogg joins NBC to help cover Olympics
Show the stories of those at high school events
Snoop’s duties while in Paris will include exploring the city, attending events, and visiting athletes and their families.
This is not Snoop’s first Olympic venture. He also covered the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
What you can do —
While the Olympics don’t start until July, the preparation for them began years ago.
While you might not have an Olympic athlete at your school, you might have an athlete at the Junior Olympics or another elite program.
Upperclass athletes are also in their recruiting process. One option would be to follow several athletes through this process and show what they do. You could ask for their recruitment video too. Need to find out who to cover? Talk to coaches and sports captains to identify these local standouts.
Another idea is to profile announcers and others who support school sports. While they might not be as flashy as Snoop, they are usually people who have a passion for the game and they often have great stories about what they do.
What’s viral
No shave November has a counterpart
Tips on covering the body hair positivity trend
During the past few years, “Januhairy” has been highlighted by Instagram and TikTok according to the CNN article.
What you can do —
This CNN article highlights everything from the percentage of women from the U.S, U.K. and Australia who remove body hair (it’s between 92-99%), which is higher than the percentage of people who wear seatbelts and brush their teeth, to the reactions nonshavers get to the racialization of the removal of body hair.
Yes, there’s so much here. Not only could you cover those who have opted not to shave and include the content itemized above, but also include the cost for those who do.
IT’S AN HONOR
It’s always membership season
Don’t forget you can nominate members year round
Starting a new semester? What better way to welcome a new semester than to initiate Quill and Scroll members. By submitting members now, students can be active members in their chapters for the remainder of the year and you can also avoid the spring rush. Remember, we need to have either payment or the Purchase Order in order to send your order. Remember, it can take up to three weeks to process and send an order during the peak spring season, which traditionally starts next month. Also, plan ahead. We are unable to overnight orders during the weeks of March 4, March 11 and April 1.
Meet, collaborate and discuss with peers
Quill and Scroll’s Student Journalism Collaboration Program, which is a discussion forum for students, will continue hosting discussion forums this school year.
The Student Journalism Collaboration Program aims to connect student journalists from across the nation. Through virtual meetings, participants will discuss, collaborate and troubleshoot with their peers about scholastic journalism issues pertaining to their student media.
Our next meeting will take Jan. 22 from 7-8 p.m. Central, and our topic of discussion will be fundraising.
Please ask interested students to fill out this form by Jan. 18. Once students fill out the form, they will automatically receive a notification for all subsequent meetings. Participants who signed up will also receive a reminder the week before the event and the Zoom link the Friday prior to the event.
We look forward to seeing you!
Sorry advisers, this is a student-only offering.
Writing, Photo, Multimedia contest opens
Due date is Feb. 2 — there’s less than one month to enter.
The entry form is live and we are accepting submissions. Be aware, we have added a few categories and changed a few items and descriptions. The cost is $7 for all entry types and you may submit live links. If you would rather make a PDF of the submission, you may still do this as well. Please make sure to allow anyone with the link to view. Remember, we don’t accept a Google document for an entry. We only accept published work.
Please make a note — all entries and payments will be due Feb. 2.
Make sure to include either your credit card payments or check or purchase order when you enter. The link provided on the site will take you directly to the credit card or check/purchase order page for the order. The WPM category payment option is at the bottom of the page.
Please reach out if you have any questions.
PSJA Journalism Contest Opens
Q&S and Private School Journalism Association set up portfolio contest
The PSJA Journalism Contest, co-sponsored by Quill and Scroll, seeks to honor the best journalism produced by private and independent school students. It is a “portfolio” contest, one that seeks not to reward single stories, but a pattern of excellence over the course of a year.
Other than Editorial Leadership, work produced for the contest should have been published in a news publication — in print or online — or a yearbook between March 30, 2023 and Feb. 29, 2024. Deadline for entries will be Friday, March 1, 2024. An awards ceremony will occur after judging is finalized.
For PSJA members, the cost for your school is $20 per entry. Non-members pay $25 per entry. To become a member of PSJA, email PSJA Director David Cutler ([email protected]) and sign up for the PSJA newsletter.
Make sure to include either your credit card payments or check or purchase order when you enter. The link provided on the site will take you directly to the credit card or check/purchase order page for the order. The PSJA category payment option is at the bottom of the page.
If you are interested in entering the contest, please see our website.
Free Spirit Conference Applications available until March 1
2024 Free Spirit Conference: In June 2024, the Freedom Forum will host its annual Al Neuharth Free Spirit and Journalism Conference June 22-27 for high school juniors. Students selected for the program receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the nation’s capital where they hear from journalists, as well as a $1,000 scholarship to the college of their choice. Applications are due March 1.
Plan ahead
We will be out of the office during the weeks of March 4, March 11 and April 1. We will not be able to send or process orders during these weeks — or overnight orders.
Also, we will not publish the Weekly Scroll during the weeks of March 11, 17 and April 8. Please make sure to plan accordingly.
Spring convention registration opens Jan. 17
Join us in Kansas City for the JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention. This year’s convention will be at the Crown Center. Registration opens Jan. 17 and the hotel link is available to all registrants Jan. 24. Join us for “At the Heart of the Story” at the JEA/NSPA spring convention April 4-6.
Just a thought
Welcome back!
I hope you are having a wonderful New Year so far.
Quill and Scroll has several upcoming events and opportunities I wanted to highlight.
If your journalism program is in need of some additional revenue, please encourage your students to sign up for an upcoming discussion on fundraising. Several of our Student Advisory Board members will host the discussion Jan. 22. While they don’t have all the answers, they do have some questions intended to help brainstorm ideas on this topic.
The Quill and Scroll individual contest deadlines are soon approaching. We will again honor the individual award winners for the Writing, Photo, Multimedia and Private Journalism Association Awards at the spring JEA/NSPA National Convention in Kansas City. Those who place in our contests, and will major in journalism, qualify for two of the three Quill and Scroll Scholarships we offer. (The third is exclusively for members only.)
We will again offer our News Media Evaluation and those will be due in early June.
All of these contests and critiques are open currently. Don’t wait. Start the process of entering today. As always, please let me know if you have any questions. I’m happy to help.
I hope you have a wonderful 2024.
— Lori Keekley
