National SPJ Awards Local Journalism Students, Coaches

The Northwest Arkansas chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists recently won a Circle of Excellence award from the national SPJ organization.

The award recognized the chapter’s work with the University of Arkansas’ fourth annual Lemke Journalism Project. The project is a program that helps Northwest Arkansas area high school students learn about journalism and write about multicultural issues.

The Lemke Project was held from Feb. 5 through March 12, and produced the Multicultural News, a publication that was inserted into The Morning News and La Prensa Del Noroeste Arkansas.

SPJ members coach students and serve as mentors, helping them develop and write stories.

The coaches for last year’s project were Jeff Smith, Denise Malan, Kristin Netterstrom and Sharla Bardin of The Morning News; Michelle Parks and Melinda Rogers of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette; and Laura Bruegge of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal.

Three of the high school students have become journalism majors at the UA.