Columbia Scholastic Press Association

Site Map

CSPA is affiliated with the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in the City of New York.

More than 3,700 high school student journalists and their faculty advisers converged on Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus from March 17-19, 2004 to take part in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association's (CSPA) 80th Anniversary Scholastic Convention.

CSPA registered 3,774 convention delegates from 515 schools in 40 US states and Canada who took part in the event. The convention featured more than 217 speakers presenting 308 sessions during the three-day conference. Hourly sessions covered reporting and writing, editing, content, photojournalism, page design and staff development. An advisory copy of the official convention program was available on the CSPA Web site up until the last day of the event.

Presenters included experienced faculty advisers from across the country as well as media professionals from New York City, including Carey Conover (The New York Times, Village Voice and the Washington Post), Anthony DePalma (The New York Times), David Diaz (WCBS-TV, New York, NY), William Elsen (the Washington Post), Jeffrey Mays (the Newark Star-Ledger), Bob Minzesheimer (USA Today), Chris Nolan (Magazine Publishers of America), Juliet Papa (WINS-AM Radio, New York, NY), Will Rashbaum (The New York Times) and Claire Regan (the Staten Island Advance), among others.

For many delegates, CSPA's annual Convention was the first experience they will have with both Columbia University and New York City.

CSPA also announced its annual Gold and Silver Crown Awards, presented to the best newspapers, yearbooks and magazines published during the 2002-2003 academic year. Winners of CSPA Gold Circle Awards were also presented for the best individual entries in over 77 newspaper, yearbook, magazine and video categories.

CSPA also presented special awards for distinguished service by journalism educators on Friday, March 19, 2004 during the Advisers Luncheon in Low Memorial Library on the Columbia campus.

Six Gold Keys were presented to:

Marge Craig (Hayfield Secondary School, Alexandria, Virginia);
Sandy Hall-Chiles (Highland Park High School, Dallas, Texas);
Mark Murray (Arlington Independent School District, Arlington, Texas);
Marilyn Scoggins (Hooker High School, Hooker, Oklahoma);
Roger Siegel (White Plains Middle School, White Plains, New York); and
Peter Townsend (Miami-Dade Community College - Kendall Campus, Miami, Florida).

The Gold Key is the highest honor bestowed upon an adviser by the CSPA.

The James Frederick Paschal Award was presented to Helen F. Smith for her service with the New England Scholastic Press Association as its executive director. Smith advises the Newtonite newspaper and Mirettes, the French-language publication of Newton North High School in Newtonville, Mass.

The Charles M. O'Malley Award (for excellence in teaching) was awarded to Laura L. Schaub, professor emerita from the University of Oklahoma (Norman) for her pioneering work in developing the CSPA's Special Edition Awards CD-ROM in 2003. Having recently retired from academia, Schaub continues to teach at workshops and conferences all over the U.S. and in Canada.