2025 Regional Contests

Recommendations from judges

& examples of contest winners

Overall

Recommendations

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• Follow the instructions on the prompts. The judges review entries based on those instructions and will disqualify entries that don’t follow instructions.
• Speaking of judges, read your rubric carefully. You could learn a lot from the comments to improve both your state entry (if qualified) and your overall journalist IQ.
• Don’t use copyrighted music in your videos. If you don’t have permission to use a song, then you’re likely violating copyright law.
• More than a few students did not capitalize/spell their names correctly or used incorrect emails when submitting their entries in the Google Form. This results in advisers and KSPA having to make corrections on certificates and students not receiving communication from KSPA about the contest.

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Academics Photography

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Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Keep the prompt in mind!
• Continue looking for the storytelling moments in academics.
• Use more creative camera angles
• Pay more attention to the focus of the story and how all the elements in the photo contribute to storytelling.
• Work more on understanding proportions and the use of photographic rules (rule of thirds, golden mean, guiding lines) to better place subjects in photos.

Anders Benson, Lawrence Free State

Katelyn Coffey, Maize Career Academy

Ash Sporleder, Uniontown

Whitney McGloth, Halstead

Advertising

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Focus on the main selling point for the business, use colors and fonts that match the business vibe, and remember that, at times, less is more!
• The visuals are important in an ad, but so is creative copy and strong storytelling! Find the 'story' you are trying to tell the audience and make that your primary goal. Then other information can be included on a secondary level.
• Use AP style on times, dates, days of the week and be consistent.
• Sometimes simple is better; you don't need to use all the given info and photos.

McKinley Kendall, Mill Valley

Elise Oblepias, Bishop Miege

Copy Editing

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Look at the bigger picture editing questions more, including ideas of structure and news judgement.
• Pay more attention to structure and quotes than grammar and style.
• Students are doing a good job with the nitty-gritty parts of editing (the mechanics of a sentence), but they are missing the big picture part of editing, such as the structure and the content. Ask the questions you think a reader might have about the story if they read it without it being edited. Then answer those questions for them (or have the writer do it).
• Make sure the lead tells the news!

Copy Editing Example

Cutline Writing (captions)

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Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Use a variety of sentence beginnings, and do not repeat information.
• Be thorough and include ample background information and quotes.
• Avoid repeating information across cutlines. If you are showing multiple photos from the same event, then you don’t need to include information about the event in all of the cutlines.
• Use correct and consistent style for quotes.

Cutline Writing Example

Digital Illustration

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Think about what you are creating and whether it truly illustrates the story being told.
• Make sure you aren't bringing in your opinion - that should be reserved for editorial illustrations. Use color and size to enhance dominant elements and don't forget little details like shading and texture to move things to the next level.
• Always remember that attention to details will help elevate your design
• Viewers should still have a clear center of visual interest and a way to have readers move around the content easily

(below) Rachel Knauer, St. Francis Community HS

(left) Devon Kueser, Chanute HS

Editorial Cartoon

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Try to be creative with the message. Use the visual medium to make an observation or suggestion of opinion, not necessarily a direct statement.
• With editorial cartoons, the key is to establish a clear point of view and let that guide the creation of the visual elements.

(below) Eleanor Bittel, Hays

(left) Jaylynn Sharau, Kapaun Mt. Carmel

Editorial Writing

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Make sure you start with a strong opinion on the issue.
• Editorials are your opportunity to express your opinion on an issue. Make sure that clear which side of the issue you are on. Then include evidence to support your opinion.
• Refute the other side.
• Use evidence and well-reasoned arguments to both support your position and address counter arguments. Most students supported their position but didn't address opposing positions with evidence or well-reasoned arguments.
• Make sure you offer a solution for students to act on in the editorial.

Editorial Writing Example

Feature Writing

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Writing a compelling lead is often the hardest part of writing a feature story (especially during a time crunch), but it is one of the most important since it sets the tone for the whole story.
• With feature writing, it's important to highlight the subject personally while incorporating facts about whatever event you're covering. Don't let the personality get lost in the reporting!
• Be sure to include the main parts of the story at the start. While it can seem easier to just go in chronological order, you need to tell your readers what the true story is in the lead.

• Read strong, professional journalistic stories and study how journalistic writing differs from academic writing. Work to write with power, tighten your writing by working to leave out unnecessary words, and use the info and quotes you get to shape stories that grab readers and keep them reading.
• It can be hard to link the informative part of a feature with the narrative part, but transitional phrases providing more information are key to connecting the two elements. Be sure to mention the true importance of the story early on, and continue to use the information that you were given to tie the story together throughout.

Feature Writing Example

Headline Writing & Design

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Meet the specifications, and don’t go beyond the story’s content.
• Make sure to follow the directions.
• Headlines should eliminate extra words like “a” “an” “the” to keep wording tight.

Infographic Design

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Don’t forget to cite the source of the information
• Don't be afraid to keep it simple! The more you add, the harder it is to balance everything.
• Use a grid and levels of spacing. Let visuals serve as important vehicles in design, not just decoration.

Payton Parrett, Shawnee Mission North

Harper Jay, Lawrence High School

Multimedia Storytelling

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• The written, video, visual and audio parts of a multimedia package are all vital to developing a strong story. Equal care and value should be given to each piece so that they could stand alone but are stronger together.
• Multimedia storytelling is about telling a complete story in different parts. Make sure your focus is narrow, and tell a different part of the story with each media format chosen.
• Don't assume because everyone in your circle is doing something or believes something, then EVERYONE everywhere is doing it or believes it. Avoid sweeping generalities and say what you can substantiate as fact.
• Try to add a video element to a multimedia story if you can.
• Always ask yourself, what else can we do to enhance a reader's experience.

News Page Design

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Study body copy in your favorite books and magazines!
• Details matter. Think about how best to show the story without being gimmicky. Pay attention to design hierarchy — make sure to have a dominant element and help the reader navigate the page through the design. Fonts matter. Infographics should include the number polled as well.
• Don't forget the simple things to help readers like indenting paragraphs
• Don't forget hierarchy and visual interest. You need a dominant visual element not all things should be the same size. The same with your text. Size should be headline, subhead, story, caption
• Cropping photos is an essential skill. Avoid cropping what the person is working on out of the photo.
• Edit your work carefully before submitting. Spell check everything. AND Avoid redundancy in headline/subhead package.
• Pay attention to spacing between elements.

Kaitlyn Rothe, Phillipsburg HS

Sophia Brochmeir, Shawnee Mission East

Blen Belachew, Blue Valley Northwest

News Writing

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• News ledes must contain the most important of the 5W's & H. Grab attention within the first five words - lead with power. Also, no editorializing. Last, journalism writing uses everyday, conversational language; remove ACT/SAt words and formal writing (save that for English class).
• Work on journalistic paragraphing - direct quotes in their own paragraph - short paragraphs
• Keep working! There is so much talent!

News Writing Example

Newspaper Sports Writing

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Include final score and key player in lead
• Tighten your writing. It will make it clearer and easier for readers.
• Make sure you start your story with the most important and/or most interesting information.
• The lead of a sports story should give the result or at least hint at the result by describing a specific moment or player. Also, I would encourage students to avoid chronological order when doing a game story -- start with the drama or key plays to get the readers' attention.

Newspaper Sports Writing Example

Review Writing

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Break your stories into short paragraphs of two or three sentences.
• Avoid repetition in your writing. I often see words and phrases repeated close together.
• Decide what your focus will be and start with that. In this case, it should've been the video and what you thought of it. A lot of the copy got pretty far afield.
• Be selective about the background information you include. The focus should be on giving an opinion and supporting it.
• Leave time to review your work before you submit it.
• I think they did a great job in putting this together in an hour. I would say to try and really explain their opinion of the piece higher in the review.
• Make sure you have a clear opinion early on. And deal with spelling and grammar issues.

Review Writing Example

Social Media

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Be sure to include a complete Instagram-style caption to accompany your posts.
• Make sure to study the social media work of college newspapers, local media outlets and even the Dallas Morning News, CNN, ABC and other national organizations to see what's trending in visual and design with social media posts.
• Follow the instructions on the prompt. And remember, it is journalistic coverage, not promotional material.
• It's hard to balance between news, yearbook and social media "marketing." But when it comes to social media, it's all about what is *visually* engaging to people!

Sports Action Photography

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Crop images.
• Crop more.
• Stay the entire game, try to tell the story of the game, fans, cheerleaders, etc., and HAVE FUN!
• Write your captions like mini stories. Include important information to help add context to the photo.
• Shooting in high school gyms can be tough, but make sure you have the ideal settings on your camera to make the best of it.
• I think photographers needs to focus on focusing. Cameras are so advanced today, but images need to be in focus to place high or win.
• Keep shooting, try new settings, learn from your failures.
• Sharp focus on the subject of the sports shot makes a big difference. Also be weary of over-editing your images to look more artistic than photojournalistic.

(below) Joachim Carmody, Shawnee Mission North

(left) Lydia Folks, Lawrence High School

(below) Samuel Biesterfeld, Olathe East

(left) William Griffith, Shawnee Mission East

Sports Feature Photography

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Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Think about what you're trying to say with your images before you put the camera to your eye.

(left) Finn Bedell, Shawnee Mission Northwest

(below left) Ivy Lee, Fort Scott High School

(below) Sophie Hartley, Blue Valley Northwest

Student Life Photography

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Work harder to find interesting content. Think more about perspective -- you did a strong job of not shooting straight-on, but consider moving up or down.
• Think about what you're trying to communicate with your images before raising the camera to your eye.
• Try different angles. Don't shoot everything at eye level.
• Be patient for the stronger moment rather than go for a posed or a quick photo.

Lydia Folks, Lawrence High School

Video News

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Watch for the match between voice over content and b-roll content
• Avoid having a “talking head” on screen for more than 3-5 seconds. Viewer attention spans need those visuals to change. This is where b-roll and interviews are essential.
• Focus on telling NON-fiction stories with real people.

• Video News Example 1

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• Video News Example 2

Video PSA

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Shaky video is distracting. Even if you're using a cellphone, your video needs to be steady.
• Get closer for interviews and use a background that gives more information.
• Make sure to thoroughly read prompt instructions. And keep making great videos for your school!

• Video PSA Example 1

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• Video PSA Example 1

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Video Sports Promo

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Follow the rules/rubric- Copyrighted music not allowed.
• If you do have permission to use a song, you may not use it. Judges will disqualify entries that use music without permission.
• Entries that use top-40, popular music likely were penalized by the judge because they assumed you didn’t have permission to use it.
• Look for additional ways to reinforce a visual / audio connection by editing the action to the beat of the music.

• Video Sports Promo Example 1

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• Video Sports Promo Example 2

Yearbook Copy

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Take time to edit entries and remember to show story through the use of quotes.
• Emphasize details and storytelling by adding more quotes.
• Work on catchy leads.
• Show don't tell.
• Be more concise.
• Transitions should not be overlooked! They should summarize (not repeat) the information in the quote that follows it
• Avoid “source describes” or “source states” or “source explains” in transitions. Simply summarize the quote that follows it.

Yearbook Copy Example

Yearbook Design

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Work on hierarchy
• Less is more. Give your page room to breathe. Also, don't use the photos as filler.
• Avoid stating the obvious "student survey about..." "Question 1, 2, ..."
• Visual hierarchies, sometimes captions were too large compared to the main story, or main story headline was same size as a MOD
• Spacing and visual hierarchies, especially when it comes to headlines and subheads of secondary coverage.

(below) Avery Sloyer, Lawrence High School

(above) Reese Browning, Paola High School

Yearbook Sports Copy

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• Don't "bury the Lead."
• To follow LTQT format to organize quotes and transitions.
• Shorter paragraphs are better in journalism!
• Write interesting leads that hint at the direction the story is headed.
• Follow LTQT format to move the story along.
• Transitions should not be overlooked! They should summarize (not repeat) the information in the quote that follows it
• Avoid “source describes” or “source states” or “source explains” in transitions. Simply summarize the quote that follows it.

Yearbook Sports Copy Example

Yearbook Theme & Graphics

Prompt

Judges’ Suggestions

• This category was super tough to judge, and a huge part came down to the attention to detail with required elements on cover, spine and title page.
• Read the instructions
• Remember to include full historical information on the cover (lid and spine) and title page.
• Attention to details with theme development is one of the hardest things to accomplish, but one of the most effective for putting together a well thought out theme.
• Remember that attention to details is the best way to elevate your theme development and make it really strong!

(below) Sophia Barlow, Humboldt High School

(above) Molly McCracken, Shawnee Mission South

Good Luck at State!