CSMA membership is by individual student medium, and we offer memberships for printed news publications, yearbooks, news websites, and broadcast/video programs. Membership for the year is only $65, which includes all our contests and services… no add ons. Two media from the same school lowers the cost to $62.50 each. Three media from the same school, the cost drops to $60 each, and if a school goes with all four memberships, the cost is only $50 per medium. Now that’s a great deal!
Want more proof about this deal? NSPA offers membership and a critique for $189 for high schools and $99 for middle schools. CSPA memberships (which include individual award entries as well as a critique) range from $170 to $270. And Quill and Scroll offers news publication (with an option to add news website) for prices ranging from $55 to $150. We appreciate the work of all these national organizations, and they certainly offer some added benefits (highlighted by national award opportunities), but if you are on a budget…
Previous members and most other schools in Colorado should have received a mailing with a membership form included in mid-August, and we are glad to accept memberships by mail (with payments either by check or credit card). The quickest way to join is using our online form, which also offers a chance to pay with a credit card, or to ask to be billed.
Why become part of our state association?
Whether you are in your first year, or your 31st, CSMA (formerly the Colorado High School Press Association) can provide support, contests, conferences, and press events that can help you grow your program and grow outstanding student journalists. And we offer a variety of opportunities for advisers for professional development.
Our membership year runs Oct. 1 through Sept. 30 each year, and this is a reminder that it’s time to renew (or sign on for the first time), and it’s also time to begin planning for our state conference, known as J-Day, which will be Oct. 20 on the campus of Colorado State University.
J-Day registration is completely online.. You can always find updated information on our state conference on the site, and don’t hesitate to email Executive Director Jack Kennedy ([email protected]) with questions.
The membership of the student media you advise covers your Best of Colorado contest individual entries (early April) as well as the All-Colorado critique (next summer). You also receive a special rate for our Winter Thaw event, and you and your students will be invited to join us for our Capitol Hill Press Conference. Details for both events will be announced soon, and both will happen in early 2017.
CSMA announces a special coverage contest, called FEARless, and we hope your students will participate. There are prizes! And member media may enter our individual portfolio and scholarship competitions. We offer $3,800 in scholarships and this year are adding $500 in prizes for winners of Reporter, photographer, and designer of the year, and to broadcast journalist and middle school journalist of the year. All these opportunities come with one membership fee. And then there’s our listserv, our website, our curriculum and press rights support…
Membership is a great deal. Why not take a few minutes today to ensure that the media you advise won’t miss a thing this school year? Click here to download our DEADLINE CALENDAR, which includes CSMA dates, as well as deadlines from our friends at JEA, NSPA, CSPA, and Quill and Scroll.
