ILPC Spring Convention Moves to Late April
By Jeanne Acton, UIL Journalism Director | Monday, December 05, 2011 8:08 AM
Due to statewide testing dates, UIL regional competitions and conflicts with the national journalism conference, the ILPC Spring Convention will be held April 28-29 this year at the University of Texas at Austin.
We surveyed members last year to see if an early date or late date in April would work best, and an overwhelming majority selected the later date.
The later date offers a few benefits for schools and ILPC. For example, we moved the newspaper and broadcast deadlines from Feb. 1 to Feb. 15, and with more time, we are hoping to add a competition component to the convention.
In February, I will send out more information regarding the competition component. Currently, we are considering a scavenger hunt, a journalism quiz bowl or an on-the-scene reporting contest. If you have ideas or preferences, please send me an email or give me a call.
Mark Newton, the recently elected Journalism Education’s Association President and award-winning newspaper/yearbook teacher from Colorado, will be the keynote speaker for the convention. Mark’s passion for journalism is evident every time he speaks. He has been a featured speaker at ILPC several times, and students always rave about him in their evaluations.
Students will learn so much from him in his keynote address titled, "Why is the most important question in journalism — and in life."
So far, our feature speakers include the amazing and colorful David Knight from South Carolina, the sardonic and well-travelled Professor Scott Winter from Nebraska, the cutting-edge former National Yearbook Teacher of the Year Pete LeBlanc from California and the Pulitzer-Prize winning photographer John Moore who recently relocated to New York City.
Our talented and dedicated Texas teachers also will present sessions on a variety of topics. Texas is so lucky to have the best journalism teachers in the nation.
Teachers who are interested in presenting should send me session titles and descriptions by Feb. 15.
A few other items:
1) We will post updated scholarship forms by Dec. 15. You can find the forms at: http://www.uiltexas.org/journalism/ilpc/contests.
2) Online registration for the ILPC Spring Convention will open on Feb. 1.
3) Teacher of the Year and Edith Fox King nominations are due March 1. Updated forms will be posted by Dec. 15. Please take the time to nominate your fellow colleagues who give so much to Texas journalism.
4) Editors of the Year nominations are also due March 1. Updated forms will be posted by Dec. 15.
5) ILPC and TAJE will host the Central Texas Invitational Meet Jan. 14. This year, we will NOT host an on-site contest. All entries must be emailed or faxed by end of contest time on Saturday, Jan. 14. Prompts will be emailed Thursday, Jan. 12. Schools can hold contests as early as Friday, Jan. 13. Here is the link to the flier and contest entry form: http://www.uiltexas.org/journalism (on right side of page under ILPC Membership). Deadline for entries is Dec. 17.