North Carolina Scholastic Media Association

Registration for the North Carolina Scholastic Media Institute is open to school groups until June 1!
Visit ncsma.unc.edu/institute/ for more details.
We hope to see you there!

The NCSMA Statewide Media Contest deadline to submit all entries in all categories is May 1.

Students have the opportunity to submit their student media from the 2025-2026 academic year to be judged. Schools can submit to both the section contests and over 50 individual contest categories.

The contest deadline is May 1 for broadcast, online news, radio, podcasts, newspaper, yearbook and literary magazine.

Submit here:

Statewide Media Contests | NCSMA NCSMA offers critique services and All-North Carolina media contests. Award categories include Achievement, Honor, Distinction and All-North Carolina.

Congratulations to Caroline Rhoad of Wakefield High for being selected as the 2026 Rachel-Rivers Coffey North Carolina Journalist of the Year!
Alternates are Julia Farris of Fred T. Foard High, Paige Levine of West Brunswick High and Maya Swaggerty of J.H. Rose High.
The full press release can be found at ncsma.unc.edu/ncsma-news.

Attention seniors! We encourage you to submit a Journalist of the Year portfolio for a chance to win scholarship dollars. You have until Feb. 15 to submit all materials. Follow the link for more information: https://ncsma.unc.edu/journalist-of-the-year/

Students attended Central Carolina J-Day at Elon today to explore what it means to be a high school journalist. Big thank you to Elon University School of Communications and for hosting!

We look forward to welcoming journalism teachers and student media advisers, along with their student groups, to any of our four regional workshops across the state. We are partnering with four universities and two media outlets to put on these programs. Join us at a workshop near you. To register, go to https://ncsma.unc.edu/workshops/

With grateful hearts, we remember the scholastic journalism legacy of Dr. Kay Phillips Redding, former director of the North Carolina Scholastic Media Association. Kay was involved with NCSMA since the 1970s, serving as a high school journalism adviser, Scholastic Media Institute instructor and as the first full-time NCSMA director from 1994 to 2001.

See her obituary here: https://www.jmwhitefuneralhome.com/obituary/kathleen-phillips-redding

The family requests those who wish to express sympathy to consider making a donation to NCSMA: https://ncsma.unc.edu/donate/

The North Carolina High School Journalist of the Year application is now open!
The winner will receive the $3,000 Rachel Rivers-Coffey Scholarship, and three alternates each receive $1,000 scholarships.
Applications must be received by Feb. 15. For more information on how to apply or other guidelines, visit ncsma.unc.edu/journalist-of-the-year/

2024 Statewide Media Contest results were announced at the summer Institute's annual award ceremony! Congratulations to all award recipients! Be sure to visit ncsma.unc.edu/contests/ for a complete list of awards.