EUGENE, Ore. -- (Oct. 9, 2013) -- More than 500 middle and high school journalists across Oregon have an opportunity to improve their craft during Fall Press Day at the University of Oregon.
The Northwest Scholastic Press Association and the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication invite young journalists to the daylong event, which will be held from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 15, at the UO's Erb Memorial Union in Eugene. Registration will remain open until the day of the event.
Fall Press Day includes instruction, practice and skill-building, with subjects ranging from conducting interviews and fact-checking to First Amendment laws, multimedia and advertising. The event also serves as an introduction for Oregon's young journalists to the UO campus, college professors and professional journalists.
"What we want students to take away from this experience is a bit of what it's like to be a journalist, and showcase their journalism skills," said Karla Kennedy, scholastic journalism outreach coordinator for the UO's George S. Turnbull Portland Center and executive director of the Northwest Scholastic Press Association.
Keynote speaker at this year's event is Ellen Austin, MJE (master journalism educator), the Dow Jones News Fund 2012 Journalism Teacher of the Year. Austin is the director of journalism at the Harker School in San Jose, Calif. She also chairs the Student Press Law Center Steering Committee and serves on the board of the Journalism Education Association, Northern California.
Fall Press Day also features UO School of Journalism and Communication professors Deborah Morrison, Dan Morrison, Ed Madison, Peter Laufer, Kyu Ho Youm and John Russial.
The Android and iPhone application Guidebook will be available for the event, so students can easily download the day's schedule and maps of the EMU, and organize a personal schedule. The event can be found under NWSP Fall Press Day 2013. In addition to three sessions of seminars, there will also be contests for student work in areas of writing, photojournalism and more.
For more information about 2013 Fall Press Day, contact the Northwest Scholastic Press Association at 503-412-3664 or nwscholasticpress.org.
About the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication
The University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC) produces outstanding writers, editors, digital media makers, strategists and critical thinkers by providing a school grounded in ethics, innovation, action and social responsibility. The school counts nine Pulitzer Prize winners among its more than 9,000 graduates.
About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is among the 108 institutions chosen from 4,633 U.S. universities for top-tier designation of "Very High Research Activity" in the 2010 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The UO also is one of two Pacific Northwest members of the Association of American Universities.
MEDIA CONTACT: Kellee Weinhold, UO School of Journalism and Communication, 541-346-2897, kelleew@uoregon.edu
Note: The University of Oregon is equipped with an on-campus television studio with a point-of-origin Vyvx connection, which provides broadcast-quality video to networks worldwide via fiber optic network. In addition, there is video access to satellite uplink, and audio access to an ISDN codec for broadcast-quality radio interviews.