Download the Fall Press Day At A Glance grid and distribute to your students for the bus ride.

New Jersey high school journalists are invited to attend Fall Press Day at Rutgers University on Monday, Oct. 25, the annual gathering of high school reporters, editors and photographers from student newspapers, yearbooks and online media for a day of learning.

The best work of New Jersey’s high school publications will also be recognized as annual awards are announced for both Newspaper and Yearbook contests.

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Renee Hobbs

founder of the Media Education Lab at Temple University and author of “Copyright Clarity: How Fair Use Supports Digital Learning.”

To see the full schedule of sessions and speakers, download the Fall Press Day Booklet here.

On-site Yearbook critique:
Yearbook staffs may take advantage of the opportunity to have expert feedback through an on-site critique.
Sit down with an expert and review your book – get insight and advice.
You will be allotted a block of up to 30 minutes for a face-to-face discussion with a yearbook expert to go over your book and discuss its strengths and weaknesses.

What You Need to Do to Get a Critique:
Pre-registration is required. To schedule an appointment, e-mail Susan Dougherty at <crusadersue@hotmail.com>.
Bring your book and plans for this year with you to the Press Day – Do not mail it ahead of time.

Newspaper Critiques:

Newspaper staffs may also obtain a critique of their newspapers during the conference by downloading the Newspaper Critique Form and sending it in.

What You Need to Do to Get a Critique:
To schedule an appointment e-mail Hope Brand at hrbrand@comcast.net by October 1, 2010. The e-mail should include:

1. Your Name, Your School, School Address, Name of Publication, E-mail Address.
No walk-ins will be permitted.

Then, send one (1) copy of your best issue published between January 2010 and October 2010 with the attached official entry form to:
Hope Brand, 579 West Court, Scotch Plains, NJ 07076

You will receive an e-mail confirmation of your scheduled On-Site Critique time slot. [Time slots are between 8:45 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.] We will attempt to schedule schools according to travel distances. It is recommended that the adviser and editor-in-chief attend the critique session. All scheduling will be done on a first-come, first-served basis.

Adviser Kelly Kennedy of Ewing High School at the summer workshop, held this year at Communications High School, Monmouth County.

WALL, NJ – Newspaper and yearbook advisers gathered this month for the GSSPA’s Summer Workshop, where they gained valuable information and materials for the new publication year.

Sessions covered such topics as leadership techniques and building staff unity and team spirit. Advisers also received a template of a staff manual that they can tailor to the needs of their own publication staffs.

Advisers will have another opportunity to brush up on their skills and knowledge at Fall Press Day on Monday, Oct. 25, when up to 1,000 of New Jersey’s high school journalists gather at Rutgers University for a day of learning. Both students and advisers will be able to expand their skills through sessions ranging from writing and editing to multimedia storytelling.

The Fall Press Day brochure will be posted here in the next few weeks. Member advisers will also receive the brochure in a mailing within the first few weeks of school.

We hope you like our new look. Everything you have found useful in the past is still here, plus we have this “What’s New” page for news and updates for advisers, students and friends of the GSSPA. We also have an easy way to subscribe to the site through e-mail or RSS, so you know right away when there’s new information. Just click on one of the links to the right, under the “Get Free Updates” header.

Details are coming soon about our upcoming Fall Press Day, slated for Monday, Oct. 25.

Congratulations to our 2010 scholarship winners:

The Bernard Kilgore Memorial Scholarship
Adam Offitzer of Scotch Plains High School, Scotch Plains: $5,000

The Bob Stevens Memorial Scholarship
Megan Berkowitz of Communications High School, Wall Township: $1,500

Both scholars were chosen by a panel of professional journalists at the New Jersey Press Foundation, which will honor Mr. Offitzer at its annual dinner. He has also earned the honor of being named the New Jersey High School Journalist of the Year. His portfolio is now New Jersey’s entry for the 2010 National High School Journalist of the Year award program sponsored by the National Journalism Education Association. Both scholars will also be honored at the GSSPA’s Spring Conference for Advisers, May 7 at Rutgers.

Request a professional development day for the
Spring Conference, May 7 at Rutgers University.

Session Topics:

• How to set up your online publication
• Using Twitter and Blogs to improve your publication
• How Facebook works for yearbooks, newspapers
• InDesign and Photoshop tips and tricks
• Adobe Bridge to the rescue
• Lesson Plans for Multimedia Learning

GSSPA Spring Advisers’ Conference

8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Friday, May 7, 2010
at Douglass Campus Center
Rutgers University
New Brunswick, New Jersey

Fees: $25 for members, $50 for nonmembers, which includes breakfast, lunch and materials.

Registration Deadline April 30.

Click here to download your registration form.

Print and mail the form today to:

GSSPA
Conference Chair Sue Everett,
78 Lincoln St., Jersey City, NJ 07307

Questions? Contact Sue Everett at (201) 653-5480
(if no answer, leave a direct phone number
and indicate best time to call)
or write to everetts@earthlink.net