Deadline: Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013

The Spartan Checkup is a pilot program offered by MIPA to provide member student media outlets with feedback on their first issue of the current academic year. This new program is only available to newspaper members for the 2013-14 academic year. This is purely a critique service is not connected to any awards.

Your newspaper (first issue only) along with the application form will be sent to an out-of-state judge who will evaluate your publication against the standards provided by MIPA in the Spartan Evaluation booklet (these are the same standards used for the spring multi-issue Spartan Evaluation). MIPA’s Spartan judges have built a national reputation of excellence in their own journalism programs.

The judge’s evaluation booklet will be emailed to the adviser. (Our goal is to have critiques returned within three weeks of submission. The speed of critiques will be affected by the number of submissions we receive in this pilot program.)

Directions:

  1. Make sure you’ve renewed your membership for the 2013-14 year!
  2. Complete the below form and include a working link to a digital copy of your first issue. (Make sure you test the link!)
  3. Submissions must be in a digital format (PDF preferred) and must be hosted on your website or a service like Issuu. Print copies of your first edition will not be accepted.
  4. Newspaper must have been published during the current academic year.
  5. Submissions must have been received by midnight, Oct. 15, 2013. Since this is a pilot program, we are not able to accept late entries for any reason.
  6. The fee for this contest is $20 and can be paid via credit card using the entry form or with a check, made payable to MIPA and mailed to:

MIPA – Spartan Checkup
MSU School of Journalism
404 Wilson Road, Room 305
East Lansing, MI 49924

Please note: Like the multi-issue Spartan Evaluation in the spring, a Spartan Checkup reflects the opinion of a single judge who has been asked to apply MIPA’s standards to your publication. Re-evaluations are not offered for the Spartan Checkup and this critique is not connected in any way to the Spartan Evaluation.