University of Kansas journalism professors Malcolm Gibson, Pam Fine and I greeted more than 100 students, three administrators, one school board member and several community members for our presentation on the First Amendment, the Kansas Student Publications Act and ethical journalistic practices.

PHS adviser Emily Smith and her students chalked the sidewalk leading up to the school’s entrance, writing out the First Amendment in its entirety, drawing a full-color Jayhawk, and greeting us by name.

After a Chicken Mary’s lunch with Pittsburg Morning Sun Editor and Publisher Steven Wade (whose paper inserts the PHS student publication into his paper), Smith led us to the school auditorium, where we had two hours to fill.

According to this article in the Morning Sun, we must have succeeded at least a little bit.

In a message she sent to the JEA listserv, Laurie writes: “For the past 15 years, Kansas has provided vocational/career funding for yearbook and newspaper programs. The money isn’t usually enough to pay for the cost of publishing, but it does help support computer, software and equipment purchases, as well as supplement teacher salaries for smaller classes. These funds are critical to many small and medium-sized schools.

“In the past year, the state officials that oversee career and tech ed at the state department of education have decided to cut these funds in 2012. Our state organization is trying to educate those involved why this is such a bad decision.”

Help drive up Laurie’s page views (and KSPA’s cause) by reading her blog.

August 23, 2010 (Overland Park) –

The opportunity will allow students to build their portfolio on a major platform while improving their writing and photography skills. Feedback will also be presented to the students with edited stories, tips and other feedback.

“This program will prove to be invaluable to high school students looking to pursue a degree or career in journalism,” said Chad Rader, Manager of Web Content for 810 WHB. “A lot of personalities in the industry started their careers by working as an intern or stringer for the local newspaper or TV station, and to start with a larger medium can only help in terms of experience and exposure for students.”

810varsity.com primarily covers football, along with boys and girls basketball, for most schools in the Kansas City metro area. For more information about the website’s coverage, visit 810varsity.com.

Students and teachers interested in participating in the 810 WHB Scholastic Sportswriter program can contact Chad Rader at rader@810whb.com to find out more details.

For more information, contact Rader at 913-568-4395.

A CCHS music teacher had sought $10,000 from the school district, the principal and the newspaper adviser because of a story in the student newspaper that reported the music teacher’s practice of not submitting student audition tapes for a state music contest.

“There is not a single sentence contained in the school article which is false or known by any district defendant to be false,” judge William Rogers wrote in his decision.

The judge also added a statement about the importance of an aggressive and free student press.

“The publication of these concerns by a student author/editor in a student newspapers serves to communicate this information directly to [Churchill County School District] administrators,” Rogers wrote.

Editor Lauren Maclean has been lauded for her reporting and leadership efforts.

Of course, Nevada does not have a student publications act, such as the Kansas Student Publications Act, which guarantees students their full First Amendment rights. The Kansas law protects administrators by excusing them from liability if they follow the law and don’t censor student publications. The Kansas law also protects advisers from retaliation.

Dunlap taught journalism at Blue Valley West, served as Mass Communication Department chairman, and was program facilitator for journalism for the Blue Valley Unified School District.  His previous teaching experience includes Lawrence, Leavenworth and Shawnee Mission North High Schools. At each school, his students excelled at state and national journalism and yearbook competitions.

Dunlap was named a Distinguished Yearbook Adviser by the Journalism Education Association in 2000 and was awarded the JEA Medal of Merit in 2001. Dunlap was a past president and influential member of the Journalism Educators of Metropolitan Kansas City. He served as the Local Chair of the 2000 Kansas City JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention. Dunlap was recently named a Kansas Master Teacher by Emporia State University in 2010.

Dunlap was born in Smithville, Mo., to the late John A. Dunlap and Darlene (Mc Fee) Dunlap, on March 9, 1966. He was a 1984 graduate of Stewartsville C-2  High School.  He earned a bachelor’s degree from Northwest Missouri State University in 1989.

In addition to his classroom work at Blue Valley West, he also served as a yearbook consultant, instructed seminars for high school yearbook workshops, and has been on the faculty of summer journalism workshops at Ball State University, Kansas State University and the University of Missouri.

Dunlap was proceeded in death by his father John A. Dunlap, grandparents Alfred and Anola Dunlap, Carl and Doris McFee and Jerry and Louise Vyrostek.

Those left to mourn his sudden departure are: his mother, Darlene Dunlap; his partner, Jeff Morrison; brother Patrick and his wife, Anita; sister Pamela Johnson and her husband Darin; half-brothers Kenneth and his wife Wylene, and John C.; an aunt, Patty Kier; two uncles, Donald Dunlap and Dan Bridgeman; nephews Dakota Dunlap, Avery Johnson, Cole Dunlap and wife Erin, and Matt Dunlap and wife Stephanie; and nieces Kendra Consiglio and husband Chris, Missy Blanton (Greg), plus several cousins, and countless friends, students and co-workers.

The family suggests donations be made to the Journalism Educators of Metro Kansas City (JEMKC) in memory of Mike. Mail contributions to the Bram-Turner Funeral Home, PO Box 350, Maysville, Mo., 64469.

Services will be held at the Bram-Turner Funeral Home in Stewartsville. Visitation is Friday, Aug. 6, 6-8 p.m. The funeral is Saturday, Aug. 7, 10 a.m.

Salina native and University of Kansas graduate Colleen McCain Nelson will deliver keynote addresses at the first two conferences, set for Monday, Sept. 20 at KU in Lawrence, and for Tuesday, Sept. 21 at Kansas State University in Manhattan.

As a member of The Dallas Morning News editorial board, McCain Nelson and two colleagues earned a 2010 Pulitzer Prize for a series of editorials spotlighting the economic and social disparities between two distinct areas of Dallas. She also writes columns and other opinion pieces for the News.

In Lawrence and Manhattan, McCain Nelson will deliver 9 a.m. keynote addresses on editorial leadership and will follow those with 50-minute breakout sessions on the importance of thoroughly researched opinion pieces.

Hays conference offers workshops

For the Wednesday, Sept. 22 conference at Fort Hays State University, KSPA board members have organized a conference that will include several features:

• A keynote address by Linda Puntney, the former executive director for the Journalism Education Association and director of Student Publications at KSU;
• Three-hour hands-on immersion workshops for experienced students in photography, theme and design, and writing;
• Ninety-minute hands-on instruction workshops for inexperienced students in the same three areas;
• Traditional 50-minute breakout sessions on a variety of topics; and
• A concluding 50-minute discussion of the Kansas Student Publications Act and its impact on your program.

Membership and Registration

This letter includes more details about registration, including registration forms forms for all three conferences, and a separate registration form for the Hays workshops.

This website will continue to update other sessions and conference details as they are confirmed in the weeks leading to the conferences.

If you aren’t a KSPA member, you may join now by clicking on the “Join the KSPA” link on the right side of every page on this website.

If you’re curious about the value of your membership, please read this story or click on the “2010-2011 KSPA Calendar of Activities” link, also on the right side of every page.

McCain Nelson’s bio

From The Dallas Morning News

Colleen is a member of the editorial board at The Dallas Morning News. This year, she and two of her colleagues were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for their work deploring the stark social and economic disparities between Dallas’ better-off northern half and distressed southern half. While Colleen is eager to share her opinion on almost any subject, she writes most frequently about City Hall, politics and environmental issues. In addition to writing staff editorials, Colleen writes occasional columns and opinion essays. And she appears each week on the “Inside Texas Politics” television program in Dallas.

Before joining the editorial page in 2006, Colleen spent six years as a political reporter for the Morning News. She covered the presidential campaign in 2004, criss-crossing the country as she traveled with John Kerry and George W. Bush. She spent nearly three years covering Dallas City Hall and wrote about state politics as well. Previously, Colleen worked as a reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and she wrote about the Kansas Legislature at the Wichita Eagle. A graduate of the University of Kansas, Colleen is crazed about KU basketball. She and her husband – also a Jayhawk and a journalist – are raising a dog named Phog and are perpetually training for their next marathon.

Fall Conferences are already being planned for Lawrence, Manhattan and Hays, the second Statehouse Reporter Day in Topeka will highlight the winter schedule, while All-Kansas critique services will now include websites in addition to the traditional print publications.

In order to take advantage of all these learning opportunities, of course, journalism advisers must be members of KSPA. You can read more about the membership benefits and how to join KSPA by going to the Membership Information page. Or you can just download the membership form.

You can see the entire calendar below or you can download the PDF and print it (and tape numerous copies around your journalism office at school, and maybe even put one on your refrigerator at home).

2010-2011 Dates to Remember

• August 14 — Executive Board Meeting in Manhattan
• September 20 — Fall Conference at the University of Kansas in Lawrence
• September 21 — Fall Conference at Kansas State University in Manhattan
• September 22 — Fall Conference at Fort Hays State University in Hays
• September 30 — First Story of the Month, Photo of the Month and Design of the Month deadline
• October 1 — All-Kansas Yearbook deadline
• October 29 — Second Story of the Month, Photo of the Month and Design of the Month deadline
• November 30 — Third Story of the Month, Photo of the Month and Design of the Month deadline
• December 11 — Executive Board Meeting in Wichita
• January 27 — Statehouse Reporter for a Day student workshop in Topeka
• January 31 —Fourth Story of the Month, Photo of the Month and Design of the Month deadline
• February 24 — Regional Competition: Emporia, Hays, Manhattan, Pittsburg, Wichita (Specific school assignments TBD)
• February 25 — Regional Competition: Lawrence
• February 28 — Fifth Story of the Month, Photo of the Month and Design of the Month deadline
• March 11 — All-Kansas Newspaper deadline
• March 11 — All-Kansas Website deadline
• March 31  — Sixth Story of the Month, Photo of the Month and Design of the Month deadline
• April 30 — Seventh Story of the Month, Photo of the Month and Design of the Month deadline
• May 7 — State Competition, University of Kansas in Lawrence

Kansas winners included:

• Rachel Ferencz, Rachel Avery and Lauren Komer, Shawnee Mission Northwest, First Place, News Story;
• Ian Wiseman, Shawnee Mission East, Second Place, Sports Story;
• Caitlyn Massy, Shawnee Mission Northwest, Second Place, Feature Photo;
• Duncan McHenry, Shawnee Mission East, Second Place, Review;
• Christopher Heady, Shawnee Mission East, Honorable Mention, Feature Story;
• Jonathan James, Blue Valley Northwest, Honorable Mention, Graphics;
• Tim Shedor, Shawnee Mission East, Honorable Mention, Single-Page Layout;
• Ashley Lane, Shawnee Mission Northwest, Honorable Mention, Double-Truck Layout.

Students will be honored at the NFPW national conference in Chicago at the end of August.

Here’s the complete list of national winners.

Brittany Bonsignore’s baseball photo caught the eye of University of Kansas journalism faculty in April, and the Shawnee Mission Northwest freshman won KSPA’s final Photo of the Month contest for 2009-2010.

Judges were impressed with Bonsignore’s exploration of depth of field, her apparent understanding of tight cropping, the captured moment in the game and her effective cutline-writing skills in awarding her Best in Show. They wrote: “Great moment, good action, nice colors, good use of the rule-of-thirds . . . all in all, an effective sports shot. And we’re really happy you were able to include in-depth cutline information.”

Other entries noted by the judges:

• Kendra Smith, Washburn Rural HS, Sports Honorable Mention
• Katie Rohr, Derby HS, Student Life Honorable Mention
• Courtney Holmes, Maize HS, General Feature/News Honorable Mention

KSPA thanks all entrants of its monthly contests this year, and urges you to look forward to an expanded Photo of the Month contest in which three entries from each school can be submitted monthly in areas that reflect the contests at regional and state competition: Academics, Student Life, Sports and Photo Illustration.

Unruh’s winning work, which will be pages 20-21 of the Lair when it’s distributed this month, focuses on SMNW student Cormac Prosser and his role in “World of Warcraft.” Unruh worked with photos, graphics and a long profile story in order to tell Prosser’s compelling story

Other layouts recognized by the judges at the University of Kansas School of Journalism:

• Sarah Clancey, Blue Valley HS, Best Sports Design
• Stephanie Espinosa, Derby HS, Best Student Life and Contents Page Special Merit
• Whitney Pleming, Maize HS, Student Life Honorable Mention

Thus concludes the Story of the Month contests for 2009-2010. Please check back this summer for details on a more extensive contest starting 2010-2011.