Alabama Scholastic Press Association Holds High School Publication Workshops

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Alabama Scholastic Press Association (ASPA) will present publication workshops to high school students and advisers on three college campuses in Alabama during September.

The ASPA traveling team will offer workshops on the following dates and at these locations:

• Sept. 14, Auburn, Auburn University
• Sept. 16, Tuscaloosa, The University of Alabama
• Sept. 17, Huntsville, UAH

The workshop fee is $15 per student or adviser. ASPA will waive the registration fee for advisers who also bring students. Advisers attending the conference for the first time will have their fee waived as well.

Registration begins at 8 a.m. at each site. The opening ceremony will begin at 8:45 a.m., and sessions will last from 9 a.m. until noon. The workshop will end at 12:15 p.m.

Yearbook, newspaper, literary magazine, broadcast and photography classes will be offered, with the yearbook, newspaper and literary magazine classes available on both beginning and advanced levels.

The featured speakers will include:

T. J. Beitelman — Beitelman teaches creative writing at the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham. He is a former editor of two of Alabama’s finest magazines, the Black Warrior Review and Alabama Heritage. Beitelman’s poems, stories and articles have appeared in numerous publications, including the Colorado Review, the New Orleans Review and Quarterly West.

Merle Dieleman — Dieleman, of Bettendorf, Iowa, retired from Pleasant Valley Community High School after 34 years of advising student publications, including newspapers, yearbooks and literary magazines. He is a former Dow Jones National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year and a recipient of the Journalism Education Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Bruce Watterson — Watterson advised yearbooks and student magazines in Arkansas for 20 years and is a former executive director of the Arkansas Collegiate Press Association. He teaches journalism at Shorter College in Rome, Ga., where he is vice president of public relations. He served on the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s 2003 Board of Crown Judges.

The ASPA, sponsored by The University of Alabama, seeks to empower high school newspapers, yearbooks, news magazines, literary magazines and broadcast staffs around the state. For more information, contact the ASPA office at 205/348-9298, aspa1@sa.ua.edu or P.O. Box 2389, Tuscaloosa, Ala. 35403.