Columbia Scholastic Press Association

Leah Bailey is associate art director at Cigar Aficionado magazine and has served in similar roles at other magazines. A 2000 graduate of James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, she led their yearbook, The Bluestone, to its first CSPA Gold Crown Award and ACP Pacemaker Award two years in a row. She is a member of the Society of Publication Designers and is working with them to build their student programming and outreach.

Peter Bobkowski advised student publications, including the award-winning Aquin yearbook, at St. Thomas High School in Houston from 1999 to 2006. He has worked as a freelance graphic designer, and is a frequent instructor at high school journalism workshops and conventions. He has critiqued publications for Columbia Scholastic Press Association,  Interscholastic League Press Conference, North Carolina Scholastic Media Association, and Virginia High School League. He holds an M.A. in Mass Communication Studies from the University of Houston, and is currently a doctoral candidate in Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Bobby Hawthorne teaches at journalism workshops, conventions and seminars nationwide. In the summers of 1998 and 1999, he taught in Hungary and Romania for the Center for Independent Journalism, which is based in New York City. From 1979-1999, he directed the Interscholastic League Press Conference, Texas' student press association. He is author of several books including The Radical Write and Longhorn Football: An Illustrated History, published in 2007 by the University of Texas Press. Among the awards he has received are Columbia Scholastic Press Association's Gold Key and James Paschal awards, the National Scholastic Press Association's Pioneer Award, the Journalism Education Association's Medal of Merit and the Interscholastic League Press Conference's Edith Fox King Award, given for distinguished service to Texas scholastic journalism. In 1991, he was named a lifetime member by the Texas Association of Journalism Educators, and in 2000 received TAJE's Trailblazer Award. In 2007, he received the CSPA Charles R. O’Malley Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Carl Towley Award, JEA’s highest award given.

Jennifer Johnson Hicks, a native of Norman, Okla., is a news editor for The Wall Street Journal Online, where she leads the WSJ.com homepage team and oversees site production in the evenings. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, and was the editor of the Crown award-winning student newspaper, The Oklahoma Daily. She received her master's from Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism in 2003. Jennifer is a Knight New Media fellow and teaches courses in new media and editing at the journalism schools of Columbia and the City University of New York. She worked briefly at The Muskogee (Okla.) Phoenix, the Boston Globe and the Daily Oklahoman.

Monica Hill is director of the North Carolina Scholastic Media Association based in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She previously directed the Alabama Scholastic Press Association at the University of Alabama and was copy editor for The Birmingham (Ala.) News.

Dave Johnson is the author of the play, Baptized To The Bone (Dramatists Books 2005) and Marble Shoot, a book of poems (Hummingbird Press/Wake Forest University 1996).  He is the editor of an anthology of poems, Movin': Teen Poets Take Voice (Scholastic/Orchard Books 2000) which was awarded prizes by New York Public Library and the American Library Association.  His play, Baptized To The Bone, won awards for best actor and best new play of the year from the Dallas/Fort Worth Critics Forum 2004.  In January 1996, Johnson found critical acclaimed as an actor, by The New York Times, for his role in Romulus Linney's play, True Crimes, and by The Village Voice in January 1997 for his role in Linney's Mock Trial.  Johnson was recently a featured poet on CNN International News and he appeared as guest artist for The Manhattan Borough President’s inauguration 2006 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  His new work includes a CD recording of original poems, Dead Heat (Champion Records 2008) and a screenplay adaptation of Baptized To The Bone with filmmaker, Vincent Nebrida.  He teaches writing at Yale University and is currently a visiting Faculty Member of the MFA writing program at The New School.

Mark Murray is coordinator of technology systems for Arlington Independent School District in Arlington, Texas. He also serves as the executive director of the Association of Texas Photography Instructors and the consultant for the Photo Imaging Education Association. He is a frequent presenter at conferences and workshops around the country, including the JEA/NSPA conferences, Carolina Journalism Institute, Dallas County Publication Workshop and Flint Hills Summer Publication workshop. During his tenure as photography instructor at Lamar High School in Arlington, he was one of the advisers to élan, Lamar's literary/art magazine, a Pacemaker and Silver Crown winner. He received the Gold Key from CSPA in 2004.

C. Bruce Watterson, chair of CSPAA’s Committee on Judging Standards and Practices, recently retired as chief communications officer at Darlington School, Rome, GA at the close of last school term and returned to the college-level as a writing and journalism professor half-time and as a freelance communications consultant. He also teaches courses in journalism/communication on the college level and lectures to press groups and publication workshops annually. A past finalist for Dow Jones Newspaper Fund Teacher of the Year, he holds the CSPA Gold Key, the NSPA Pioneer Award, the JEA Medal of Merit, the Southern Interscholastic Press Association’s Distinguished Adviser Award and the Kay Phillip’s Service Award from North Carolina Scholastic Media Association. Watterson has been honored by College Media Advisers for his work with the collegiate press nationally. He has been a national officer for CASE (Council for the Advancement and Support of Education). He has spoken on frequently to press groups in 44 states and internationally as part of the Center for Independent Journalism Foundation.

David Wiegand advised the Aurora yearbook and Warrior's Word newspaper for 20 years at Wausau West High School in Wausau, WI. His publications earned numerous writing honors including Gold Circle awards from CSPA, and National Winners from Quill and Scroll. The newspaper earned a Gold Medalist rating from CSPA, All-American status from NSPA and the George H. Gallup honor from Quill and Scroll 10 times. The paper also has been a Pacemaker finalist for NSPA and received a Silver Crown from CSPA.

The 2009 Crown Finalists have been announced.

Click here for the Scholastic Crown Finalists.

Click here for the Collegiate Crowns Finalists.