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Michigan Interscholastic Press Association

The Official Michigan Interscholastic Press Association Site

Student Journalist Staff Instructions & Tips

Deadline

Feb. 14, 2025. Late entries will not be accepted. Candidates will be notified via email by April 1 about whether they were selected.

Contest Overview

Members of MIPA’s Student Journalist Staff are graduating students who excel at their student media outlets. This is our honorary “all-state team.” They are selected based on portfolios of their work.

Candidates for the Student Journalist Staff must be seniors. Each member school may nominate one candidate in each area of primary interest of the Staff:

  • Broadcast
  • Digital media
  • News writing
  • News design
  • Photojournalism
  • Yearbook design
  • Yearbook writing

Candidates will be evaluated based largely on work in the area of primary interest, but they are encouraged to also include work in other areas.

One staff member in each interest area will receive a $500 All-MIPA scholarship. Scholarship funds are paid directly to the honoree’s college and must be claimed within one year or the award money is forfeited.

One student will be selected as Michigan’s representative in the Journalism Education Association’s Journalist of the Year competition.

Student Journalist Staff members will be recognized at the annual MIPA Awards Celebration. Photos of the staff will be printed in the event program and notices will be sent to the student’s local media.

You also may use your Student Journalist Staff application to apply on a “fast track” for the MIPA Summer Journalism Workshop Upstart Fellowship. Learn more about Upstart Fellows

General Guidelines

The entry includes two parts (detailed below) that are submitted together via the same online form:

  1. The application form, which includes contact information, an essay, academic transcript, letters of recommendation and resume. Details below.
  2. An online portfolio of the student’s work.

Application Form Materials

Preview the application form – You must complete our online entry form, but here’s a Word copy of the questions we ask.

Please gather all required materials before filling out the application form (protect your privacy, do not include these materials in your online portfolio):

  1. Information about the student and parents/guardians, as well as local media contact information for the award announcement.
  2. Official high school transcript or a counselor’s statement including journalism classes taken, grades and current GPA. Scan the transcript and upload it as a PDF.
  3. A formal head shot of the candidate AND an action photo of the candidate involved in some aspect of student media. Make sure each digital file has the candidate’s name on it. For instance: smith.jpg. This must be a high-resolution photo — not a social media photo or screen shot. Please provide photo at its full, original file size. The action shot should have an extended caption written for that photo. If there is more than one person in the photo, please use location of candidate (left, right, etc.) for identification.
  4. Three letters of recommendation from those who know the candidate well and understand the impact of their journalistic experience. No letter should exceed two pages in length. Scan letters and upload them as PDFs. Letters must be submitted via the application form. What if the person writing a letter wants to send it directly to MIPA?
  5. A resume of activities and achievements in scholastic journalism and other activities.
  6. A personal narrative written by the candidate. Students should write with passion and make an impact on the judges because the personal narrative functions like an interview with the judging panel. Tips for writing a personal narrative, from the Journalism Education Association. Personal narrative should not exceed two pages in length. It must be typed and should include:
    • how working in journalism has impacted the applicant’s life
    • challenges faced along the way and how these were overcome
    • future goals and aspirations; include college plans.

Portfolio Requirements

Judging Rubric

Submitting a Portfolio

No more than one portfolio per school may be submitted in each of the following areas: news writing & reporting, news design, yearbook writing, yearbook design, broadcast, photojournalism or digital media.

  1. Submit a portfolio via the online application form.
  2. Portfolios that cannot be accessed publicly by the judges will be disqualified.
  3. Entries must be submitted by the contest deadline. Late entries will not be accepted.
  4. Fill out the application form as directed.
Submit Your Application

Example Portfolios

Please note: Example portfolios may not fulfill all requirements of this contest. Portfolios may have been updated since they were originally submitted for competition.

Judging

A panel of at least two judges will evaluate the portfolios in each of the areas of interest. Judges may not work in any area of interest in which they have a student entered.

Are you an adviser interested in judging Student Journalist Staff porfolios? Contact ask@mipamsu.org at least one week prior to the contest deadline to be assigned to a judging committee. Please include in your email the names of any students submitting portfolios into this year’s contest and to which area of interest they are applying. Judges work remotely and must complete their work in the two weeks following the contest deadline. Thank you!

Tips

View this slide presentation with tips on preparing your portfolio

The national Journalism Education Association also has some resources about building a portfolio that is helpful. (Some of these videos are noted above.) JEA’s resources are aligned with its national Journalist of the Year contest, which is similar to MIPA’s Student Journalist Staff but has some key differences. Pay close attention to our contest instructions.

Help

Have a question about how to put together your portfolio? Take a look at our frequently asked questions list here. If you don’t find an answer to your question, contact us at ask@mipamsu.org.

What should I use to build my digital portfolio?

You can use any platform to showcase your work, as long as it’s available at its own URL. There are many free and low-cost website building platforms that are super easy to use.

Do not use file sharing sites that would require a judge to download the portfolio (i.e. Google Drive, Dropbox). The portfolio should live online to be accessed with a URL.

I want to build a website. What platform should I use?

There are a lot of options to build an organized, professional-looking portfolio website. Here are a few to consider:

  • Blog Platforms
    • WordPress: A WordPress website gives you a lot of flexibility to make a custom portfolio that matches your personality and meets your technical needs. The Journalism Education Association has created a guide for building a portfolio using WordPress for its Journalist of the Year competition. JEA’s portfolio requirements are very similar to MIPA’s Student Journalist Staff competition. A WordPress.com site is free. (Many scholastic journalism news websites are built on a WordPress infrastructure.)
  • Website Building Tools: There are a variety of tools to let you easily build free websites. Here are a few you might consider.
  • Portfolio Sites for Journalists: These sites have free and paid packages and are used by many professional journalists to create online portfolios. Each site is slightly different and offers different options. Depending on your work samples (writing vs. photography vs. video), each has strengths and weaknesses. Before you spend any time building a site using any of these platforms, make sure it will work to present all of your materials.

For a good overview of these options, read this PBS MediaShift article on building a journalism portfolio.

How should I organize my work samples?

We recommend that you organize your portfolio materials using the following categories: Reporting & Writing; Editing, Leadership & Team Building; Design; Broadcast Journalism; Photojournalism; Web and Social Media; Law, Ethics & News Literacy; Marketing and Audience Engagement; and Commitment to Diversity.

These categories are the core areas of the Journalism Education Association Journalist of the Year Contest, and are aligned with JEA’s journalism curriculum initiative.

It’s OK if you don’t have materials for all of these categories. The goal is not to try to find something to fill every category. Only use the categories in which you have appropriate portfolio materials, and discard any categories that are not appropriate for your porfolio. Quality is more important than quantity.

What if I don’t have work samples for all categories listed in the requirements?

It’s OK if you don’t have materials for all categories. The goal is not to try to find something to fill every category. Only use the categories in which you have appropriate portfolio materials, and discard any categories that are not appropriate for your portfolio. Quality is more important than quantity.

Can I make my portfolio a PDF or other format?

No, not for this competition.

Your portfolio must exist on the Internet at its own URL, following the guidelines provided.

How do I apply for an All-MIPA Scholarship?

The judges will select students for the All-MIPA Scholarship based on their Student Journalist Staff portfolios. You don’t need to take any additional steps.

How do I apply for JEA Student Journalist of the Year-Michigan Representative?

The judges will select a student to be Michigan’s representative for the JEA Student Journalist of the Year contest based on Student Journalist Staff portfolios. You don’t need to take any additional steps.

If you are selected for this honor, you will be contacted by Michigan’s JEA state chair, who will work with you to prepare your portfolio for the national competition.

What should NOT be included in my online portfolio?

Protect your privacy! Do not include your transcript, letters of recommendation or contact information in your online portfolio. You will submit these materials on the application form in MIPA’s contest submission system.

Is this contest for seniors only?

Yes. Applicants must be graduating seniors.

Do I have to major in journalism or a related field in college?

No. This contest evaluates the work you have done throughout your scholastic journalism career.

What should I include on my resume? Is there a particular format I should use?

Your resume should focus on your activities and achievements in scholastic journalism. This could include the positions you have held on your student media outlet, awards and recognition you have received, journalism-related workshops and trainings you have attended and more. You may also choose to include jobs and volunteer activities that showcase your leadership and/or community involvement.

Choose quality over quantity when selecting what information to put on your resume. Make sure your resume is neat and organized. In the professional world, most journalists’ resumes are only one page.

Can my portfolio include work that I have done outside of school?

Yes.

Do all of the materials in my portfolio need to have been published?

No. In most cases, judges will view published work (or work slated for future publication, such as the upcoming yearbook) more favorably than work that has not been published and will not be published.

But, maybe you have a great essay about something journalism-related, or materials you put together to promote student press rights to your school board, or an amazing research project on media literacy, or a great presentation that you did to the local Rotary. You can still include those kinds of materials, but make sure it’s clear in the required explanation/reasoning for each piece why it’s included in your portfolio.

What should be included in the explanation/reasoning for each portfolio item?

The explanation/reasoning includes the applicant’s explanation about the specific assignment. What makes it a great example of your work? Did you encounter any difficulties in completing it? How is this item special? When was it published or created, and for what publication/program/etc.?

Explanation should be brief (less than 100 words), easy to read and should explain why this entry is important and was chosen for the portfolio.

If you were asked to describe why you’re proud of a specific work, what would you say? That’s a great starting point for the written explanation in your portfolio.

Who should I have write a letter of recommendation?

Candidates should ask those who know them best and can speak to the significance of their journalism experience. This might include professional journalist mentors, your adviser, other teachers or administrators, your peers and others. But be sure they can speak intelligently and with authority to your work as a student journalist – not merely to how great you are personally or as a student.

People who can speak with authority about you because of their experiences with you often are more valuable for letters of recommendations than people who have important titles but don’t know you very well.

Can I put my letters of recommendation in my online portfolio?

We recommend against that. The people who wrote you letters of recommendation probably didn’t intend for the world to see them. You’ll be able to submit these letters via the online application form.

Can the person writing a letter of recommendation send it directly to MIPA?

Letters of recommendation must be submitted with your application. We do not accept letters sent directly to MIPA because of the chance a letter could get misplaced or that it might not arrive by deadline.

Letter writers should not include any private information that you do not give them permission to disclose to MIPA.

We do not consider these letters as confidential or secret. If a letter writer is not willing to share with you what they wrote about you, your application might be better served by a letter of recommendation from someone else.

Can I include my transcript or grades in my online portfolio?

We recommend against that. No matter how great your grades are, your transcript should be kept private. You’ll be able to submit this information via the online application form.

I have paper documents (transcript, letters, etc.) that I need to upload electronically with my application. How do I do that?

If you need to convert paper documents to an electronic format (we generally prefer PDF for Student Journalist Staff application documents), we like the Adobe Scan app. It’s free, available for iOS and Android devices, and can integrate with a Creative Cloud account, if you have one.

Your school might also have a copy machine that scans paper documents into PDFs. Check with your adviser.