Monthly Contests
KSPA’s Monthly Contests offer students a chance to get feedback and earn awards for their work during the school year, whether it’s for their school’s newspaper, news website, yearbook or broadcast program. We currently offer three categories: Story of the Month, Photo of the Month and Design of the Month.
STORY of the Month
Schools may submit up to three entries every month of the contest (either all in the same category, or across two or three categories):
- Opinion (Editorials, Columns and Reviews)
- Features
- Yearbook Copy
- News
- Sports (News Publication or Yearbook)
- Video News
- Online-only Story (podcast, complementary video, photo slideshow, etc.)
PHOTO of the Month
Schools may submit up to three photos every month (either in three separate categories, across two categories or all in one category). Categories include:
- Sports
- Student Life
- Academics
- Photo Illustration
- Profile/Portrait
DESIGN of the Month
Schools may enter up to two categories every month of the contest. Categories include:
- Newspaper page design
- News magazine page design
- Yearbook spread design
- Infographic
JUDGING
Judges from the University of Kansas School of Journalism will pick winners and runners-up in each of those categories for every contest month.
PAYMENT
Schools who have already joined KSPA for 2011-2012 may have already paid for all Monthly Contests on their membership form. If you haven’t already paid for the contests, they are $5 per invididual entry. Maximum cost will be $105 for the year (3 entries per month for seven months). To find a membership form, simply go to the Links section on the right side of this page.
Here is the entry form, and here are the contest guidelines.
Deadlines:
- Sept. 30, 2011
- Oct. 31, 2011
- Nov. 30, 2011
- Jan. 31, 2012
- Feb. 29, 2012
- March 31, 2012
- April 30, 2012
Rules:
- Every entry must have been produced, written or designed since the deadline for the previous monthly contest and intended for publication in a student publication or video news broadcast.
- Limit three entries per school per month.
- Fee is $5 per entry. (Send newspaper clip, copy of yearbook page layout, online printout or DVD.)
- Schools may pre-pay for three entries each month for the year at $105.
- You may combine pre-payment with pre-payment for Photo of the Month contest, which is also $105 for the year, and the Design of the Month contest, which is $70 for the year, for a total of $280.
- Payment options are on the membership form, which can be downloaded from the link to the right of every page on this website.
- All judging will be done by University of Kansas School of Journalism faculty.
- Electronic submissions will be accepted in every category, including links to video stories that have been posted online at staff@kspaonline.org with “KSPA Monthly Contests” in the subject line. An entry form must be sent with the submission. Payment would be sent via U.S. mail, if not already submitted.
- If you would rather submit via mail, please do so to KSPA Monthly Contests, c/o Jeff Browne, Stauffer-Flint Hall, 1435 Jayhawk Blvd., University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045-7575
