For the past 87 years, JEA has worked to serve the scholastic journalism community in a variety of capacities, including important initiatives of support, training and recognition. As we celebrate the success of our programs and look to expand those efforts, we’re ready to update our look. The soon-to-be redesigned website is part of that plan, along with a new JEA logo.

It’s time. This version of our logo is about 11 years old, coming to our organization before the digital revolution of iPhone/iPad, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. How we communicate and what it looks like has changed drastically in that time. Although we remain committed to the timeless principles of a free and responsible press, we hope that an updated JEA logo will reflect our solid foundation in scholastic journalism while embracing a more innovative look to our brand.

We want you to know that this is not happening overnight or behind closed doors. Based on member feedback and focus groups over the summer, we’ve been doing our homework. While we plan to incorporate member preferences, we also must consider best practices such as designing a logo for flexibility and longevity.

As we explore options and move toward creating a new logo, we’ll provide updates on JEAHELP and http://jea.org/wp. If you have questions, ask. Better yet, if this is a passion of yours, or a special area of expertise, please consider being part of the committee.

To serve on the logo committee, simply complete this form by Aug. 25, 2011:

http://tinyurl.com/3uz8bg7

Feel free to contact me directly with questions and comments, which I will compile and share with the committee. The group will work quickly and efficiently during September and October to make progress to be shared with the membership. This is an exciting and important project as we continue to live up to the JEA slogan: “Leading the way in scholastic journalism and media education since 1924.”

Best wishes,
Sarah Nichols, MJE
JEA vice president