Providing support and leadership in scholastic journalism

Kansas Scholastic Press Association
Providing support and leadership in scholastic journalism

Kansas Scholastic Press Association
Providing support and leadership in scholastic journalism

Kansas Scholastic Press Association

2026 KSPA State Contests

 

Purchase contest entries for $15 each.

 

Submission links are on each prompt. The visual submission form is now open.

 

Rules and answers to frequently asked questions are at this link. 

 

 

  

KSPA’s State Contests are the organization’s signature competitive event, as schools from across the state compete for individual and school honors.

Students with entries that finished first through sixth in our regional contests qualify to compete at state where they face a new set of prompts. In addition, we’ve added a state-only voiceover contest.

Students who place first through third at state receive medals. Schools that win their overall size classification in sweepstakes points take home trophies.

2026 Contest Deadlines
  • March 12: Deadline for State Contest registration. Register for the entries you need. Refunds aren’t given for entries that aren’t submitted.
  • March 23: State Writing contest prompts posted. Must be proctored.
  • March 27: State Writing contests due at 5 p.m. Again, must be proctored.
  • April 2: Deadline State contest visual prompts due at 5 p.m.
  • April 15: Deadline to register for the State Celebration at the University of Kansas. Find details and register here.
  • May 2: State Celebration at the University of Kansas. Find details here.
  • For more details, check out the KSPA calendar.
Organize your entries

The spreadsheet linked here can help you organize student entries. Please note, this is NOT how you’ll submit your entries — just a tool to make organizing the work a little easier. It’s also a great way to involve student editors in planning submissions.

Rules

Find all of our rules at this link, but here are a few important guidelines to keep in mind:

  • Individual students can compete in no more than five total contests.
  • Students can’t submit more than one entry in a single category.
  • Submit correct links: While we make efforts to inform schools of bad links or files, it is the responsibility of entrants to submit the correct information and use our verification emails to check submitted files. We cannot issue refunds for improperly submitted entries.
  • Payment for entries is due at the contest submission deadline. Entries may be disqualified if a school doesn’t pay its contest invoice in a timely fashion.
Technical requirements for submissions

You must use a Google account to submit entries for the visual contests. (Teachers may submit entries for students if they don’t have a Google account.) A Google account isn’t required for writing entries. Please suggest your school district not block emails from our domain (@kspaonline.org) because we will email verifications of submissions to students and teachers. In some cases, students may want to use a non-school email address in order to receive verification of their submissions.

You can also verify that your entries were received by checking our live list of submissions.

Learn, Prepare & Teach

Review Advice from Regionals Judges

We’ve collected advice from judges and shared it alongside a sampling of some of the winners from regionals.

Check out winning entries from regionals on the announcement posts:

Learn from past state winners at this link. You’ll also find slide presentations for each of our 2025 state categories, which include views of the winning work as well as advice specific to each contest. We’ve also compiled advice for being successful in the visual and writing categories.

Prepare for the writing contests using our past prompts at this link.

Teachers often find those past prompts and examples useful for creating a quick lesson. You might also find our rubrics helpful for evaluating student work.

Volunteer to judge or refer judges to volunteer

We rely on journalism educators and professionals to judge and provide feedback to our contestants. Volunteer and refer other volunteers to sign up using the form at this link.

We will share writing entries with judges by March 30 and visual entries by April 6. Judging is due by 5 p.m. on April 17.

Get started

REGISTER for your school’s contests entries ($15 each) at this link. We have a link of schools that have already registered at this link.

 

2026 STATE PROMPTS

Student Life Photography first place winner was Nicholas Prater from Shawnee Heights High School, competing in the Sunflower Regional.

 

PHOTO STATE CONTESTS

PROMPTS: Start preparing your work now. See links by each contest. 

Due: 5 p.m. April 2 (Please note this is a different due date from the writing entries.)

Photo Categories

1. Academics Photography (prompt and rubric link)

2. Sports Action Photography (prompt and rubric link)

3. Sports Feature Photography (prompt and rubric link)

4. Sports Media Portrait Photography (prompt and rubric link)

  • New contest for 2026

5. Student Life Photography (prompt and rubric link)
Infographics first place winner was Quinlyn Funk from Hillsboro High School, competing in the Plains Regional.

DESIGN STATE CONTESTS

PROMPTS: Start preparing your work now. See links by each contest.

Due: 5 p.m. April 2 (Please note this is a different due date from the writing entries.)

Design Categories

1. Advertising Design (prompt and rubric link)

2. Digital Illustration (prompt and rubric link)

  • New in 2026, contestants will explain their creative process.

3. Editorial Cartoon (prompt and rubric link)

  • New in 2026, contestants will explain their creative process.

4. Headline Writing & Design (prompt and rubric link)

5. Infographic Design (prompt and rubric link)

6. News Page Design (prompt and rubric link)

7. Yearbook Design (prompt and rubric link)

8. Yearbook Theme & Graphics (prompt and rubric link)

  • New in 2026, students no longer have to design a title page as part of the entry.
  • This contest can be completed individually or with a partner.
  • New in 2026, partners can change at state as long as one of the contestants was part of the regionals qualifying partnership.
 

Video Story Package first place winner was Braylynn Watson and Piper Goss from Humbolt High School, competing in the Bison Regional.

VIDEO & MULTIMEDIA STATE CONTESTS

PROMPTS: Start preparing your work now. See links by each contest.

Due: 5 p.m. April 2 (Please note this is a different due date from the writing entries.)

Video/Multimedia Categories

1. Multimedia Storytelling (prompt and rubric link)

  • New in 2026, increased flexibility in teams to determine the storytelling elements they want to use for their post.
  • This contest can be completed individually or in a team of up to four students.
  • New in 2026, teams can change at state as long as one of the contestants was part of the regionals qualifying team.

2. Social Media (prompt and rubric link)

  • New in 2026, a return to creating authentic prompts for the schools’ publication.
  • This contest can be completed individually or in a team of up to four students.
  • New in 2026, teams can change at state as long as one of the contestants was part of the regionals qualifying team.

3. Video Sports Promo (prompt and rubric link)

  • This contest can be completed individually or in a team of up to four students.
  • New in 2026, teams can change at state as long as one of the contestants was part of the regionals qualifying team.

4. Video Story Package (prompt and rubric link)

  • New in 2026, this contest has been renamed from Video News
  • This contest can be completed individually or in a team of up to four students.
  • New in 2026, teams can change at state as long as one of the contestants was part of the regionals qualifying team.

5. Video PSA (prompt and rubric link)

  • This contest can be completed individually or in a team of up to four students.
  • New in 2026, teams can change at state as long as one of the contestants was part of the regionals qualifying team.

6. Voiceover/Reader (prompt and rubric link)

  • New contest for state only. No regional qualifier this year.
The class 5A/6A feature writing winner at state in 2025 was Danielle Croom of Blue Valley Northwest High School.

WRITING STATE CONTESTS

PROMPTS: Writing prompts will be released at 6 a.m. on March 23.

Due: 5 p.m. March 27 (Please note this is a different due date from the visual entries).

PROCTORING: Writing prompts must be proctored (see our rules) and students have a 65-minute time limit for completing that work.

PRACTICE: Students who want to practice using old prompts, can find those at this link. Students can also also prepare by evaluating winners from previous contests at this link. They’ll especially benefit from reviewing our slideshow presentations of each of the 2025 contests, which include tips for success.

Note about rubrics: We have included links to the rubrics below.

Writing Categories

1. Copyediting (prompt and rubric link)

  • Writing prompts will be released at 6 a.m. on March 23 and are due at 5 p.m. March 27.

2. Cutline Writing/Captions (prompt and rubric link)

  • Writing prompts will be released at 6 a.m. on March 23 and are due at 5 p.m. March 27.

3. Editorial Writing (prompt and rubric link)

  • Writing prompts will be released at 6 a.m. on March 23 and are due at 5 p.m. March 27.

4. Feature Writing (prompt and rubric link)

  • Writing prompts will be released at 6 a.m. on March 23 and are due at 5 p.m. March 27.

5. News Writing (rubric link)

  • Writing prompts will be released at 6 a.m. on March 23 and are due at 5 p.m. March 27.

6. Newspaper Sports Writing (prompt and rubric link)

  • Writing prompts will be released at 6 a.m. on March 23 and are due at 5 p.m. March 27.
  • New in 2026, name update from sports writing.

7. Review Writing (prompt and rubric link)

  • Writing prompts will be released at 6 a.m. on March 23 and are due at 5 p.m. March 27.

8. Yearbook Copy Writing (prompt and rubric link)

  • Writing prompts will be released at 6 a.m. on March 23 and are due at 5 p.m. March 27.

9. Yearbook Sports Writing (prompt and rubric link)

  • Writing prompts will be released at 6 a.m. on March 23 and are due at 5 p.m. March 27.