ASPA Mobile Fall Regional Workshop program

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ASPA would like to thank our financial supporters: Alabama Press Association • Dow Jones News Fund • UA Center for Community Based Partnerships • Mercedes-Benz Endowment• UA College of Communication and Information Sciences • UA Department of Journalism • Southern Interscholastic Press Association • National Education Association Foundation • The Selma Times-Journal and its board members!

President: Melissa Dixon, Oak Mountain High School, Birmingham Vice President: Connie Nolen, Pelham High School, Pelham Secretary: Nikki Minoso, Vestavia High School, Vestavia Past President: Erin Coggins, Sparkman High School, Harvest

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Fall Regional Workshop Mobile, Ala. Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza Sept. 24, 2012 The Alabama Scholastic Press Association offers special thanks to: Dr. Loy Singleton, Dean of the College of Communication and Information Sciences Dr. Jennifer Greer, Chair, the University of Alabama Department of Journalism Alabama Scholastic Press Association Director Emeritus Marie Parsons.

Welcome!

8:30 a.m.Welcome and introductions, Schooner Meredith Cummings, Director, Alabama Scholastic Press Association Keynote Speaker, Ben Raines, Mobile Press-Register

Sessions

Session 1 9:30-10:30 Things We Should Have Learned About Redesigning Our Publications, Bruce Watterson, Clipper Take isomorphism – how students’ own memories and experiences play into their interpretation of publication design. Why we use certain graphics, why we don’t. Also, a look at type, color, photos, graphics and the basic grid pattern to best showcase them.

Multimedia Hodgepodge, Meredith Cummings, Windjammer In this session students will learn how to write great copy for multimedia platforms, as well as the importance of social media and blogging for your publication.

Journalism Today, John Sellers, Schooner Journalism is about method, not megabytes. It is a lifestyle and an art, which can thrive in all formats – from papyrus to flash drive.

Session 2 10:30-11:30

Join us for the 30th annual Multicultural Journalism Workshop in June, 2013!

The University of Alabama’s 30th annual Multicultural Journalism Workshop will be held June 14-23! The purpose of the workshop is to give high school students experience that teaches them more about college life and a career in media. If you are interested in becoming part of the Class of 2013, please submit an application, due April 1.

Students who will be in the 9th grade through freshman year in college in fall 2013 are eligible to attend the workshop. Students do not have to live in Alabama. The program is free and the University supplies housing, meals and field trips, as well as top-notch, intensive instruction by industry professionals. Transportation to and from Tuscaloosa is the student’s responsibility.

Creative Possibilities, Bruce Watterson, Clipper Too few choices? Think again. There are hundreds of untold ways to add dynamic photos and graphics to your publication... fostering a unique approach to the coverage of sensitive issues, lifestyles, social media activities. Just gotta know where to look and how to draw in the readers.

ASPA 2012-2013 CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Visual storytelling Meredith Cummings, Windjammer Video storytelling for the Web boot camp! How to use natural sound, work around difficult subjects and generally draw in your audience. We will look at techniques used by pros, and talk about how they might help at participamts’ schools.

December 14: Deadline for all media for competition and critiques.

News feature writing, Robert McClendon, Schooner News feature writing. How to find and tell compelling stories. Use description, in-depth reporting and compelling leads to pull readers in.

January 31: Senior award deadlines: Bragg, Thomson, Stevenson and Journalist of the Year awards. Administrator and Adviser of the Year award deadlines.

Session 3 11:30-12:30

Feb. 22-23: ASPA’s State Convention

The Best Yearbooks I’ve Seen This Year, Bruce Watterson, Clipper Why some staffs seem to nail a great concept while others fail to hit the mark. A look at the best of 2012 with an eye to 2013.

April 1: Deadline to apply for the Multicultural Journalism Workshop

Awesome reporting, Katie Nichols, Schooner Great stories start with great reporting. Learn about the interviewing and researching that goes in to creating in-depth stories in this session. Students will also learn about juggling deadlines and reporting for diverse types of publications.

Nichols will share some of her most recent articles and the behind-the-scenes work that went into creating them.

June 14-16: The Long Weekend summer camp June 14-23: Multicultural Journalism Workshop

Keynote Speaker Ben Raines has covered the environment for the Mobile Press-Register since 1999. In that time, his work has focused on Superfund sites, the oil industry, rare and endangered creatures, wetland protection, the seafood industry and the BP oil spill. His work has earned dozens of journalism awards.

Session Leaders Meredith Cummings is the Director of the National Elementary School Press Association, the Alabama Scholastic Press Association and the Director of the Multicultural Journalism Workshop at The University of Alabama. In that capacity, she works with K-12 students around the state to help them create better broadcast, newspaper, magazine and multimedia journalism through training, workshops and a mentoring program for teachers. She is a journalism instructor at The University of Alabama, where she completed her undergraduate degree in English in ’ 94 and received her master’s degree in Journalism in ’96. She served as the Community News Editor at the Tuscaloosa News where she was a member of the editorial board, planned and edited the teen section, Pulse, edited the weekly newspaper, T-News Weekly and wrote a weekly health column on the lighter side of life with diabetes. She was a 2010-11 Faculty Fellow in Service Learning awarded by the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Southern Interscholastic Press Association. A newspaper, website and magazine reporter for 16 years before joining academia, Cummings currently writes for al.com where her blog, The Up Beat (http://blog.al.com/upbeat), covers good news from around Alabama. Cummings freelances for many publications, and has been a member of several organizations including Vice President/President-Elect of the Alabama Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Robert McClendon covers City Hall for the Mobile Press-Register. A 7-year veteran of the business, he’s also covered crime and community news.

Katie Nichols has been a journalist for four years after graduating from the University of Alabama. She started her career at the Selma Times-Journal, which is her hometown paper, before moving to the Delta Democrat Times in Greenville, Miss. In November, Katie moved to Mobile, Ala. to become the News Editor for Lagniappe, a bi-weekly, independently owned newspaper. Throughout her career, Katie has covered law enforcement, courts and city government and also is works on investigative pieces.

John Sellers retired from the Press-Register in Mobile in 2008 after working for the newspaper for more than 35 years. He started as a copy clerk in 1972, worked several months for The Associated Press in 1974 and returned to the newspaper in late 1974. At the newspaper, Sellers worked as a police reporter, copy editor, general assignment and health reporter, business writer and editor, city editor, news editor, associate executive editor, managing editor and director of new media. When he retired, he was working as editorial systems editor.

Having taught in 47 states and multiple countries around the world, C. Bruce Watterson enjoys working with aspiring young journalists to create thought-provoking and creative publications. He claims he has never met a pica he didn’t like. As chairperson for Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s Judging Standards and Practices Commission, he oversees hundreds of entries in the Association’s annual Circle and Crown competition annually. Known for advising the country’s first desktop yearbook in the eighties, Watterson pushes staffs to re-write, re-design and re-shoot in order to successfully reward their readers Dr. Watterson recently won the Joseph W. Murphy Award for service to collegiate and scholastic journalism presented by Columbia University. He believes Mark Twain was right when he said, “the almost-right word is simply not the right word...it is the difference between lightning bug and lightning.” For Watterson, the same applies to photos, design, use of color, content and the elements of great publishing.

Save the date!

We hope to see you at the State Convention in February!

Feb. 22-23 University of Alabama campus