1. Get your students recognition for their work.
Your kids work hard. You know that. But does your school community know that? Sometimes the work that student journalists do can be pretty thankless. That’s why we created this opportunity for your students to gain recognition for their hard work. And while your students get that much-deserved individual recognition, you have the opportunity to remind teachers, community members, and your school board just how valuable your program is. It’s a win-win.
2. It’s as easy as it gets.
This will be the third all-digital version of our annual contest, and the feedback has been unanimous—it’s so much easier than before! Rather than cutting out clips, mounting them, and shipping them off, staffs are able to take their press-ready PDFs, downsize them, and upload them directly through the JEANC site. What may have taken hours to prepare before can now be done in less time and without the mess.
3. Use the awards as a part of your end-of-year celebrations.
One of the biggest perks of our annual contest is the opportunity to get your students recognized for their hard work in the same year they created it. This makes our contest particularly unique. Some advisers announce their award winners at an end-of-year banquet or awards ceremony. You could even announce it to the whole school through your morning announcements or at a rally! No matter how you take advantage of the earlier recognition, your kids will appreciate getting that acknowledgment before they forget about the work they did (especially seniors!).
4. Individuals are recognized for rising above.
Sometimes you have a student who really shines on your staff or who excels in one particular field. Because the annual contest offers a breadth of categories for your students to enter, you get the chance to gain recognition for those individuals who rise above the norm. Whether it’s one spectacular feature story or a yearbook photo that’s worth more than a thousand words, we think it’s great to highlight and reward students’ individual accomplishments in addition to staff accomplishments.
5. Maximize your JEANC membership.
The annual contest is only open to JEANC members. Seize the opportunity to get the most out of your membership by entering your students’ work in the contest by April 22, 2011. For full details and requirements, visit the Annual Contest FAQs or the guidelines to read Before you Enter.
