STATE CONVENTION 2022 | ASPA

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STATE CONVENTION 2022

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Click the PDF icon to see our Overall and Individual Award Winners! 

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Click the PDF icon to see our Carry-In, Timed Competition, and Senior Awards! 

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We set the DeLorean to the wrong future.

Despite our high hopes, careful planning, and overly-enthusiastic bragging about being in person, this year’s convention will now be virtual. The ASPA Board is working to make this even more fun than last year, with games throughout.

So we are still back! Back to the future. The Zoom future. A different kind of future.

This year’s convention we will pull out all the stops. Get excited about what’s waiting for us when we go back to the future. 

Register for convention today!

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This year we also encourage all students and staff to dress up as their favorite decade represented in the Back to the Future movies. Dress up to show your spirit for the Spirit Award competition or just for fun! Wow us with those costumes. Decorate your classroom or personal space. Be creative! (If you don’t do it for us, do it for Instagram.)

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Missed the deadline for contests and critiques? Check out the carry-in guidelines and carry-in categories, which may be emailed to the State Convention. Onsite categories are also below. For both categories entrants will be emailed instructions in early February about where to send entries. 

In the 84-year history of ASPA, we have only canceled a State Convention one time — during World War II. With careful thought and planning by the ASPA Board Officers, we will forge ahead once again with our 2022 convention, virtually. This year the Bryant Conference Center will handle the technical side of our conference and someone will be in every session to troubleshoot for us. We have worked hard to remedy last year’s technical errors.

Please note that on Feb. 4 each person who registers will receive an email with a link to access the State Convention. You will see us ask for email addresses on registration. The deadline to register without a late fee is Jan. 25. The convention staff (Jenna and Meredith) must have time to get everyone a link. Please respect this deadline.

To give students a break and keep them engaged, we will be hosting the mail-in awards, senior awards and announcement of new officers at noon, so students can have lunch and watch. The carry-in, timed (formerly on-site) and teacher/administrator awards will be at 4 p.m. and that will be the last event of the day. The board has worked very hard to accommodate all manner of schedules and challenges, as we understand that no two districts in our state have had the same pandemic response.

We will also offer our usual carry-in and onsite competitions, now called Timed Competitions (since we will have no physical site). Timed Competition materials will be emailed to each participant on Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 10 a.m. (Groundhog Day!). Entries will be due Wednesday, Feb. 9 by 5 p.m. This will allow our small ASPA staff to run the convention Friday, and also make sure judging is done in time for the award ceremony. Once again students can enter as many timed competitions as they want to, unlike when the convention is in person.

We’ve got spirit, yes we do!

Will there still be a Spirit Award? YES! 🎉 🎉🎉 Last year Clay-Chalkville High School took home this coveted award. Who will show the most convention spirit this year?

Don’t miss it!

Registering requires slightly more advance planning than usual for teachers and students, so head to the ASPA website’s About Convention tab and register today! We cannot wait to see you there.

Like last year, there is no individual pricing. We offer scaled pricing, per school. A virtual convention allows us the opportunity to offer the experience to new students and schools who may not usually be able to join us due to travel and financial constraints. Please spread the word if you know of a school that might want to attend!

Staff/class size Price

1-9 students $50

10-14 students $100

15-19 students $150

20-24 students $200

25-29 students $250

30-39 students $300

40-49 students $400

50-59 students $500

60+ students $600

Individual student not affiliated with school $10

Individual teacher without a journalism class or club $50

We know it’s not ideal because we all love to be together. But we are working overtime to bring you the best convention experience ever. Pivoting to a fully-online conference last year was a formidable challenge that our board celebrated as an opportunity and we plan to do it again! 

Convention will begin at 9 a.m. (to give everyone time to take care of housekeeping issues and get settled) with a great kickoff panel. 

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​Timed Competition Categories:

• Sports writing

• Yearbook copy and caption writing

• News writing

• Feature writing

• Editorial writing

• Editorial cartooning

• Broadcast stand up/package

• Newscast (anchor)

• Sportscast (anchor)

• Yearbook layout

• Newspaper layout

• Photography

• Literary magazine fiction writing

• Literary magazine poetry writing

• Literary magazine illustration

• Literary magazine layout/design

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Carry-in Competition Categories are listed here

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