Lemke Journalism Project Seeks High School Students

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The 10th annual Lemke Journalism Project, a series of workshops for northwest Arkansas high school students interested in writing about diversity issues, will begin Saturday, Feb. 5. The workshops will run six weeks, concluding on March 12. The project is sponsored by the Walter J. Lemke department of journalism in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas.

“This year is a particularly important year for us,” said Katherine Shurlds, journalism instructor and director of the project. “Not only are we celebrating 10 years of the program, but thanks to Tyson Foods, we know that the program will continue into the future.”

In November, Tyson Foods Inc. announced that it would give $250,000 to set up a foundation account to fund the Lemke Journalism Project for many years to come.

“The increasing diversity of northwest Arkansas makes this program very important to our community and its evolving culture,” said Archie Schaffer III, Tyson’s executive vice president of corporate affairs, at the time of the gift announcement. “The Lemke Journalism Project will make a lasting contribution to improve journalism in the region as well as multicultural understanding. We at Tyson are pleased to be able to provide financial stability to the program.”

The six-week program allows high school students to meet with leaders from the community and work with journalism professors and professionals to write stories for a newspaper, The Multicultural News, which is published at the end of the workshop. The newspaper is distributed in northwest Arkansas as an insert in La Prensa Libre.

Students can also create projects in television, photography and multimedia as part of the program.

The Lemke Journalism Project’s traditional awards program will be expanded this year to celebrate the 10th anniversary and will be held on Saturday, April 9. Claudio Sanchez, education reporter for National Public Radio, will be the featured speaker at a celebration with current and past participants, coaches and sponsors. The event will be at the Springdale Holiday Inn Convention Center beginning at 2 p.m. More details will be released in March.

The Lemke Journalism Project is free to students. Lunch and snacks are provided, as well as transportation for Rogers and Springdale students.

All northwest Arkansas high school students, grades 10-12, are invited to apply for the workshop. Active recruiting occurs at Fayetteville, Springdale and Rogers high schools, but application is open to students in others as well. High school counselors at Fayetteville, Springdale and Rogers high schools should have application forms, but the form can be found at http://journalism.uark.edu/ljp/about/Forms.html. When completed, the application can be faxed to 479-575-4314 or mailed to Katherine Shurlds, department of journalism, KIMP 116, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 72701.

More information about the program is available at the Lemke Journalism Project website, or by calling 479-575-3601 or e-mailing kshurlds@uark.edu.