MSPA’s fall and spring statewide conventions are the largest gatherings of high school journalists in Mississippi. This is YOUR day! We’ll have more than 30 sessions geared toward ALL publication types, including yearbooks, lit mags, online-only programs and those of you who kinda do it all.
Here are all the need-to-know details…
C.J. LeMASTER TO DELIVER HAMILTON KEYNOTE SPEECH
For more than a decade, central Mississippians have welcomed C.J. LeMaster into their living rooms to break down the news of the day and hold the powerful accountable. Since he began serving as WLBT’s lead investigative reporter in 2016, C.J. has uncovered misleading crime statistics from the Jackson Police Department, exposed a Rankin County elected official’s drunken behavior hours before he would face a felony rape charge, revealed a prison extortion scheme that stretched across the state and helped uncover misspending in Hinds County that led to the conviction of three people and the removal of an election commissioner from public office. C.J. also co-anchors WLBT News at 5 p.m. alongside Maggie Wade.
C.J.’s work has resulted in an Investigative Reporters & Editors Award, six Emmy nominations, twenty-two state awards and the First Amendment Award of Excellence five years in a row, highlighting his dogged use of public records in investigations.
Before coming to the Capital City as a reporter and weekend anchor in December 2013, C.J. worked at WTVA/WLOV in Tupelo, Mississippi, for nearly a decade in several roles, some of that while pursuing a broadcast journalism degree from Mississippi State. He is originally from Booneville, Miss.
REGISTRATION
The registration site is up and running!
It’s also linked under ‘State Conventions’ on our main site.
Registration is $25 per student for MSPA members. For non members, it is $35 per student. Advisors attend for free. Breakfast and Lunch will be provided.
We’re not collecting any payments online or via mail.
You’ll need to bring payment with you to the check-in table on the morning of the convention.
We will only be accepting cash or check (personal or school, your pick). Checks should be made out to MSPA or UM Foundation.
One disclaimer about this:
Even though you’re not physically paying for your attendees until you get to Hattiesburg, you will be required to pay for the number of attendees you pre-registered for. I know things happen. I know students flake on you at the last minute. But because of food and other event costs, it has been our longstanding policy not to refund any registration fees for students who don’t attend. You can always sub in someone else in their place, and you can always add an additional student or two later if you need to, but we’ll expect your school to pay in full for the number of students registered.
The registration deadline is October 21
Please register your school as early as possible. Early registrations really help us in planning appropriately for the necessary number of sessions, etc.
This schedule mirrors that of previous years.
You’ll check-in at UM between 8-9 a.m., drop off any publications you brought for the swap table and have breakfast. At 9 a.m. we’ll have a brief welcome and overview of the day before dismissing students to three rounds of breakout sessions starting at 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., respectively. Then lunch. The student lunch will start at 12:15-ish (whenever they’re dismissed by their 11:30 instructor). The adviser luncheon will start buffet service at noon with a brief awards ceremony once we’ve fixed our plates. We’ll wrap up the day with the Hamilton Keynote and the Best of MS awards program.
You should be able to be on the road headed home no later than 2:30pm.
BEST OF SHOW CONTESTS
These competitions are something we started long ago in order to honor the good work your students published after our September 15 Best of MS deadline, like this month’s newspaper or broadcast, or stuff that’s still “in progress”, like unpublished yearbook or lit mag spreads, or simply stuff you thought was awesome but couldn’t quite squeeze on a published page somewhere or into another contest, like cool photos or videos. These contests are only for those schools attending our fall convention, though the actual students who produced the work aren’t required to be present. A full list of categories is attached here.
Each entry is $5 (paid during registration or at check in) and there is no limit to the number of entries you can submit.
Entries will be accepted via Google Drive until Monday, October 21.
