judging Aspiring Young Journalist portfolios

Thank you so much for helping select this year's Aspiring Young Journalist. This is a fairly new contest for MIPA to recognize an outstanding student in their final year of middle school. (That's typically an eighth grader.) It's similar to the Student Journalist Staff for graduating seniors - with some key differences, such as not having to make a portfolio website and not having specialized tracks for different media interests.

This page (hopefully) contains everything you need to judge Aspiring Young Journalist applications. Judging panels must have their assigned portfolios reviewed and scored no later than the end of the day Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. 

PLEASE REVIEW THIS WEBSITE AND ALL MATERIALS BEFORE STARTING.

Your picks will be presented to MIPA’s board, which will review your decision (minus any members who have a conflict because of a student competing in this contest). The top student's work will be submitted to the national JEA Aspiring Young Journalist contest. The MIPA office will notify all candidates. This is a tight window of time in which to complete your work. Please let Jeremy know if you run into any issues or need anything.

ASPIRING Young Journalist judging panel

• Jim Woehrle, Midland HS (head judge)

• Randy Scott, Davison HS

• Kaitlin Edgerton, Adlai Stevenson HS

ASPIRING Young JOURNALIST Candidates

• Ethan Anversa - Cranbrook Middle School for Boys

• Francis Badalamente - Clague Middle School

• Ronak Desai - Cranbrook Middle School for Boys

• Yanbo Huang - Cranbrook Middle School for Boys

• Calvin Wilson - Traverse City East Middle School

Access the online judging form

Download the Word version of the judging form to prepare your scores comments.

Judging Procedures

5 ENTRIES, please choose up to 1 winner and up to 4 for special recognition

You may select fewer than the number of allotted special recognition awards based on the quality of the portfolios.

MIPA submits the "Winner" to the JEA Aspiring Young Journalist national contest.

Judging Procedures

Work with your judging panel colleagues to divide up the portfolios so that each entrant is viewed by at least two judges. Each judge will record their own scores in the judging form, which includes the rubric. Please coordinate to compile these scores.

• No adviser should judge any category in which they have a student competing. Please contact the MIPA office ASAP if there is a conflict so that you may receive a new assignment.

Since this is a newer contest, we would love as much feedback as you are willing to provide - both about the contest and about student work.

• Please choose only one WINNER. (No ties for the top award.)

• Judges should look at the top three highest scoring portfolios (or any portfolios coming within two total points of the top) and come to a consensus as to which is the winner. Additional worthy applicants may receive “Special Recognition" as a Runner Up or Finalist:

  • Runner Up: A portfolio of excellent quality. The submission showcases journalistic work of excellent depth and quality, showing maturity of work. With a little editing, this portfolio could also be submitted to the national JEA contest. Judges may designate an unlimited number of Runners Up. (JEA rules allow for one student per school to enter the national contest, and so MIPA will encourage all Runners Up who are from a different school from our Winner to submit their work to the national contest.)

  • Finalist: A portfolio of good quality. The submission is complete and showcases journalistic work of a quality expected for a middle school student. Judges may designate an unlimited number of finalists.

• Each portfolio should be evaluated by at least TWO judges and scored using the MIPA rubric.  Each judge will award points in each of the five rubric categories. A portfolio’s total score is determined by the total of the two judge’s scores.

• Directions for what students should include in their entry can be found here.

JUDGING/SCORING FORMS

The online judging form is linked above.

Please do not share your feedback or information from other judges on your panel with students or other advisers.

The MIPA office will use a summary of your scores and comments to give feedback to those applicants who request it. We do not share raw judges’ comments with anyone outside the selection process.