Happy Friday everyone!

This week was my first week of the last semester of my undergraduate career. I spent my time in classes, at the dentist, and morphing our campus chapter at Wilkes into a regional student chapter.

I would recommend that your schools consider looking to other local institutions for members, because it can really do wonders for your membership.

Linda Hall, membership coordinator for SPJ, pointed out this portion of our bylaws to me.

Section Seven. City-or area-wide campus chapters may be established by four-year and two-year universities or colleges within a radius of 75 miles, provided that at least one university or college involved has a school or department of journalism or offers courses of study relevant to the scope of the Society as defined in Article One, Section Two.

That being said, let’s get to The Weekly Index!

• The keynote speaker for the Spring 2010 National College Media Convention in New York City was announced yesterday. Terry Moran, co-anchor of ABC’s Nightline will headline the event on Monday, March 15. The convention, which is put on by the College Media Advisers, Inc., will take place from March 14 to the 16 at the Marriot Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City at Times Square.
• John Ensslin, SPJ’s Region 9 director, talks about his “excellent SPJ weekend” on the Rocky Mountain SPJ Blog.
• Jay Mathews, an education columnist for The Washington Post, writes about why novice reporters should cover national education, and more experienced journalists should spend time on the local level.
• Here is an interesting discussion on the AP’s Facebook on how journalists should act in a crisis. The discussion stems from one of their own reporters and his reports from Haiti.
• In related news, The Los Angeles Times has an interesting article on the delicate line walked by medical correspondents when they are called upon to assist in a crisis.
• The National Sports Journalism Center has a great editorial from Jason Fry, a veteran web journalist. He argues that news organizations should embrace a young writer’s blog instead of forbidding them.

Plenty of young sportswriters could use personal blogs to make themselves into cleaner, stronger writers who better understand their own business and are more open-minded about its possibilities. ~ Jason Fry

• Of course you couldn’t turn anywhere in the world of journalism this week without hearing about http://www.nytimes.com/ planning to charge for content starting next year. Could this be the start of something good?
• SPJ’s diversity blog has a really useful post from Leo E. Laurence on whether to use the word “Latino/Latina” or “Hispanic.”

When journalists use the word Latino for a person whose ancestry can be traced to Spain, they are generally safe. But, using the word hispanic may offend many Latinos. ~ Leo Laurence

• Leo also wrote a great post on the diversity blog about why journalists should avoid the term “illegal immigrant.”
• The first Donald W. Reynolds Visiting Professor in Business Journalism at Arizona State University is veteran New York Times business reporter Leslie Wayne. Here is the press release.
• Want to make your sports webpage POP? Make a heatmap! Here is a post on how to make them.
• The Washington Post celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day by having some of their staffers, including Ben Bradlee, recite part of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and asking viewers how King inspired them.

Here’s the video:

Have a happy and safe weekend!

p.s.You can always follow us on Twitter, too!

Students who are enrolled in a college or university in the U.S. during 2009 and completed outstanding journalism are invited and encouraged to enter the Mark of Excellence Awards.

Print, radio, television and online collegiate journalism entires are eligible.

Once entries are submitted they are judged on the regional level, and are recognized during the spring conferences. First place regional winners are then entered into the national competition, where winners will be honored at the 2010 SPJ Convention & National Journalism Conference in Las Vegas!

Entering the contest is also easier than it has ever been before. All a person needs is a great piece of journalism and a computer.
Here is all the information anyone would need to know about the awards, and here is a list of last year’s winners.