Awards / Grants
Program Excellence and NIE/YEA Content Awards
Both competitions boast plenty of opportunities to win for NIE and YEA professionals alike. These awards typically are presented at the NAA Foundation Young Reader Seminar. Because there was no seminar in 2007, the 2008 awards will recognize work dating back to July 2006.
As past winners know, a helpful strategy is to designate a file or box where supporting materials for contest entries can be stored. Save tearsheets, testimonial letters, fliers, promotional items, photographs – in short, anything and everything that might be of value when it comes time to assemble your entries.
All winners will be honored at the 2008 NAA Foundation Young Reader Seminar, scheduled for May 15-18 in Phoenix.
Each contest has its own entry form and entry deadline (see below).
NAA Foundation Program Excellence Competition
The Program Excellence Awards recognize outstanding efforts by newspapers in the areas of Newspaper In Education (NIE), Youth Content and Student/Newspaper Partnerships. Entries must have been received by Feb. 15, 2008.
NAA Foundation Content Awards
The Content Awards recognize outstanding efforts by newspapers in the area of NIE and Youth Content/ YEA. Please note that all Content Awards are covered by one competition. Entries must have been received by Nov. 30, 2007.
Winning NIE Program Excellence Awards from the NAA Foundation
This extensive white paper was written by Jim Abbott, vice president of the NAA Foundation. It gives you all the information you need to understand the entry brochure and the requirements for entries in the competition. It provides detailed information on how judges are selected and what they look for in entries. There is a section on writing measurable objectives, which is one of the keys to winning these awards. Download this free publication to help make your entry as strong as possible.
Grants
Student/Newspaper Partnership Grants
Since 1997, the NAA Foundation annually has awarded Student/Newspaper Partnership Grants. The program was created to provide funds to help establish or revive student newspapers. Grants are awarded to partnership proposals between middle and high schools and their local newspapers to create a newspaper where none exists, or to stabilize and strengthen struggling student newspapers. Applications from minority-majority, urban and rural schools and their local newspapers are of special interest. Student/Newspaper Partnerships require newspapers and middle or high schools to commit to working together. Colleges and universities can also participate. Click here for more information and an application form.
Young Publishers Grant
This grant program is designed to help high school students and advisers learn the skills required for success in newspaper publishing through the development of a business plan which establishes the student newspaper as a school-based business. This is accomplished through interacting with and mentoring by volunteers from the local newspaper as a business plan is developed and implemented. Click here for an application form.
Teen Fellow Program
This NAA Foundation program provides youth editors with the opportunity to nominate their youth staffers for a fellowship to attend the Young Reader Seminar. Selected teens represent a diverse group of youth staff members. At the seminar, they take part in a training program and work together to create a presentation that provides age-centric feedback about the industry’s efforts to reach them.
A youth editor or Newspaper In Education coordinator overseeing teen content may select one staff member, have him or her complete the appropriate application and selection criteria, and forward the completed application packet by mail or fax to the NAA Foundation. The application deadline is determined by the annual seminar date. Once determined, the date is posted on the NAA Foundation Web site, and announced in NAA Foundation publications and e-forums. Click here to download the 2008 application. Applications must have been received by Feb. 22, 2008.
