Journalism students attend KSPA Fall Conference

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Eric Thomas

Journalism students accept the 2018 State Journalism Award.

Newspaper and yearbook students attended the Kansas Scholastic Press Association Fall Conference at Fort Hays State University on Wednesday, Sept. 19.

“The main goal of the conference is to get new ideas in front of students,” KSPA executive director Eric Thomas said.

The day started with a keynote address from Getty Images photographer Jamie Squire. Squire specializes in sports photography and has photographed moments at the Olympics, the World Series, the Kentucky Derby and many more.

After the keynote address the awards ceremony took place and Hays High received the 2018 State Journalism Award for the 4A division.

Students then got the opportunity to decide which sessions they wanted to attend, with topics ranging from photography composition, to finding a story, to a tour of the Tiger Media Network at Fort Hays.

Allison Brooks
Nick Schwien takes students on a tour of the Tiger Media Network at Fort Hays.

“Students can choose what they want to learn about this day,” Thomas said. “We want them to be able

to expose themselves to things that maybe their advisor doesn’t teach about.”

With all of the different speakers at the conference students had the chance to expand their knowledge of story writing, photography, videography, interviewing skills and many more topics.

“I got to learn a lot of different skills from some very interesting people,” sophomore Anna Brull said. “I was able to learn more about how to cover risky stories and I also met student journalists from other schools who shared tips with me.”

21abrooks@usd489.com