Young Chicago Authors Kick off the Summer with Open House

Young Chicago Authors (YCA) hosted an open house reception and student spoken word poetry performance last Thursday night at their revamped studio space in Wicker Park.

Board President Sylvia Ewing updated community members, partners and funders on the latest programming at YCA, including a new program where young people will be challenged to speak up and “say somethin’ “ about their school, city and country by texting in their responses to a prompt, such as “Why do store clerks stare at me when I go up to the Northside" or “Why is my school’s graduating class so much smaller than others?”

YCA will be kicking off the summer with its Say What magazine writing program and a new open space called WordPlay for teens to share their writing an poetry to peers and the public. 

Coming this fall… Young Chicago Authors will also be hosting the first, city-wide youth media festival, showcasing the media produced by Chicago youth. Stay tuned for more details. 

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Calling all Chicago-area high school teachers!

RTDNF's High School Broadcast Journalism Organization (HSBJ) is still accepting registration for their Camp STN at Columbia College on August 16-19, 2010. The four-day training video journalism sessions are free and teachers even receive a $50 daily stipend. RTDNF is also arranging for all teachers to receive 36 hours of CEU credits. If you'd like to attend this hands on workshop, please submit your registration here.

At the workshop teachers will learn the basics of:

• Shooting video
• Conducting interviews
• Writing scripts
• Editing video
• Putting together a news show
• Posting your news show online
• Teaching your students all of these skills – plus News Literacy, how to tell if it is true

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Find Sources for Oil Spill Reporting

Trying to find out more information about the Gulf oil spill? Joe Davis of the Society of Environmental Journalists is compiling a tracking blog of sources for journalists about the oil spill, taking a specific look at the access issues reporters have experienced. Mapping out a timeline, Davis has been posting breaking news stories and press releases since May. The Daily Glob blog also presents a list of sources journalists can use, including news media outlets, government websites, congressional hearings, commercial responses, research and experts, and mapping and infographics. Davis started posting at a Twitter account @DailyGlob today. Turn to the SEJ blog for information about reporting this environmental crisis. Get back to us with the stories you have posted, too.

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