APPLICATIONS FOR THIS SEMINAR ARE NO LONGER BEING ACCEPTED.

The Poynter Institute seeks 10 high schools in the Tampa Bay area to participate in a workshop this August to learn ways to improve the writing, design, engagement and journalism on their online newspaper sites. Interested? Then gather the adviser and two students from the staff and apply today for this August workshop.

Poynter faculty and local journalists will work with the staffs to help them move to a more interactive, news-responsive site that takes advantage of social media, crowdsourcing and the native online tendencies of their audience.

If you’re interested, the adviser should fill out the online application by June 15. The sooner you apply the better, since time is short and we’ll be making admissions decisions on a rolling basis as applications come in.

Advisers, talk to your supervisor about getting in-service or CEU credits for this three-day workshop. Students, don’t miss this chance to work with other student journalists and Poynter’s nationally known faculty to improve your journalism.

Thanks to Gannett Foundation/Tampa Bay’s 10 News for funding this workshop, which is free to participants.

Questions? Email Wendy Wallace, Poynter High School Journalism Program Director.

Objectives of the workshop include:

• to improve the storytelling and reader engagement on participants’ school media web sites;
• to involve teachers in the learning, helping overcome resistance to this sometimes confusing and intimidating aspect of the new journalism landscape;
• to create a positive learning experience for students and teachers from schools of various demographic compositions, ensuring that we include at least three schools with a high percentage of low-income and minority students;
• to create opportunities for team-building by bringing students and teachers from the same school to learn and make plans for the school year together; and
• by focusing the program on digital, online journalism and social media, to teach skills most sought after in professional media — writing for online, crowdsourcing and engaging audience using social media and developing coverage plans that take advantage of the 24/7 nature of online and meet readers’ expectations for on-demand news.

Remember, the workshop will be for teams of up to three people from Tampa Bay area high schools.  Each team should consist of an adviser and two students. (We will consider teams of two, with or without an adviser, but prefer teams of three.)