Can you spare a few hours to help the next generation of Texas journalists?

It is hard to believe that I’m in the second semester of my fifth year at Tarleton State.

It has been the pleasure of my life serving as director of the Texas Center Community Journalism. This is my dream job, and I look forward to doing it for years and decades to come.

By Austin Lewter, director, Texas Center for Community Journalism

Many of you know me professionally through the center and the work that we do there. We are carrying on Tommy Thomason’s mission of providing world-class, mid-level professional training and support for Texas community journalists.

What you may not know is that my day job is working with college journalists. I am the advisor of the student newsroom and the lead of the journalism program at Tarleton. This means I teach most of the undergraduate journalism classes.

When I first came aboard here back in 2021, I surveyed many of you publishers. I asked, “What can the TCCJ do for you?”

The resounding response was, “Send us people to hire.”

Many of you need a succession plan. You need young people who are interested in community newspapers.

I have dedicated my work to bridging the gap between you — the current generation of journalists — and my students — the next generation. And we have been successful.

We have placed several young journalists at Texas community newsrooms, and they are doing incredible work. We graduate a handful each semester and thanks to you, we’ve been able to place them. But the work continues. It is with this generation-bridging mindset that I come to you today.

Some of you may know that Texas has a college press association. The Texas Intercollegiate Press Association serves two- and four-year colleges across the state. They have conventions and contests just like we do at TPA.

I was largely unfamiliar with TIPA when I came on board at Tarleton because I went to college in Oklahoma. They do incredible work. They are based at Baylor under the executive directorship of Julie Reed. Many of you have met Julie at TPA conventions.

One thing that sets TIPA apart from any other press association I’ve ever seen is that they not only conduct annual contest evaluating pre-published work; they host live contests at their conventions.

Students pick categories and go out to compete in the field. They set up mock crime scenes so students can cover crime news. They take students to a live sports event and have them compete in sports writing and sports photography. They take them to a concert and have them compete in critical review.

Last year at the convention in Saint Marcos, I took 30 college writers downtown and turned them loose for 90 minutes. We told them to go find a feature story. They came back and wrote their stories and they were judged.

There are categories for just about anything. Page layout, editorial writing, magazine layout, photography, radio broadcast announcing, video work — the list goes on. 

It is an experience like no other and is invaluable to the students.

It has been the custom of TIPA to employ faculty advisors as volunteer judges. So, folks like me judge the work blindly. I would like to build upon that.

I am calling upon you newspaper professionals to help us judge our live contest. Our next convention is March 19-21 at the Embassy Suites in Denton. Most of the contests occur on Friday, March 20.

We would love to have you there in person to judge a contest, but it can certainly be done remotely. 

If you have access to Google Drive, you can judge from anywhere.

Again, we need your help. The students will benefit from your professional eye and input. Advisors will benefit from being able to enjoy sessions at the convention instead of being tied up with the judging. But beyond all that, this will a great opportunity to meet the next generation of journalists.

We must start building these relationships now, and I can think of no better way to do just that.

So, the next generation needs you. Are you available to spare a few hours in March to help judge?

Please let me know. I promise you will be inspired and reaffirmed that the future is in good hands. The students need your input and encouragement.

If you are interested, please reach me directly at alewter@tarleton.edu. We can discuss the categories you are most interested in, and we can get you dialed in.

Again, this can be done remotely but we would love to have you in person in Denton. Let me know how you can help, and I hope to hear from you soon.

I thank you in advance, and so do Texas’ amazing college journalists.