Press Foundation sponsors free summer workshop for high school journalism students

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[A May 1 deadline has been set for applications for an annual summer high school journalism workshop.

Parents and teachers are encouraged to help their students apply for the free two-week experience, June 17-30, that introduces sophomores, juniors and seniors to the world of journalism.

Held in Charleston on the campus of Eastern Illinois University, this workshop, sponsored by the Illinois Press Foundation and the EIU journalism department, is a two-week residential program that provides students an intimate look at journalism as a career.

The workshop introduces students to the complete process of publishing newspapers: gathering information, writing news, editing it, designing, capturing video and audio, and producing print and online newspapers. Participants produce three newspapers during the course of the workshop, as well as multimedia story packages.

The best candidates are not necessarily current high school journalists. Rather, they are simply young people who are interested, curious and willing to learn.

The first week is devoted to instruction and related exercises including news-gathering field trips. Professional journalists provide most of the instruction. Dozens of reporters, editors, publishers, photographers and other journalists have taught in the program since 1991, representing more than 30 newspapers and news organizations throughout Illinois and from nearby states.

Students then practice what they have learned. For three days, students are driven to daily newspapers, where they work with reporters and other journalists on assignments. The remainder of the second week is devoted to producing their own newspapers and websites.

Students also participate in several field trips and attend events that they cover, such as a play and a local government meeting. On the weekend, they travel to sites in Illinois to study history and to have some fun.

The Illinois Press Foundation has sponsored this event since its inception, along with the Dow Jones News Fund. In addition, the McCormick Foundation and the Sun-Times Charity Trust are significant contributors to the program.

All expenses, including housing, meals and tuition, as well as transportation to the conference if needed, are paid from these funds.

To be considered, students must complete an application form, which is available online at the department of journalism at www.eiu.edu/~journal/.

For more information call Sally Renaud, workshop director, at (217) 581-6003 or email her at to serenaud@eiu.edu.