Let your students shine in the fall National Student Media Contests.
NSMC allows scholastic journalists to test their skills as they compete in 45 contest categories at the Fall JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention — 21 contests take place on site Nov. 8 in Philadelphia, and 24 contests are submitted online by Oct. 15 with mandatory on-site critiques Nov. 8.
Students create a journalistic product from the contest prompt with a specific content packet or theme. With the exception of some photography and broadcast contests, the contest entry should not be something previously published or planned to publish in student media.
Each contest entry is critiqued by a team of judges, and the top entries are given superior, excellent or honorable mention placements. Judges’ feedback is available to contestants in the NSMC contest system on Nov. 10.
The contests are part of the JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention and require concurrent registration for the fall convention and NSMC to be eligible for awards. The journalism teacher-adviser must be a current JEA member for the students to participate in the contests.
NSMC registration information
Due to some technical delays, registration for the fall 2024 NSMC in Philadelphia will now open Sept. 17, 2024. All students competing in NSMC on-site and online contests must be entered by noon Central, Tuesday, Oct. 15.
Online contest submissions can be submitted Sept. 17 through Oct. 15. All submissions must be entered by noon Central, Tuesday, Oct. 15.
For your record keeping, use the NSMC contest tracker in Google Sheets to assign students to contests and manage online entry submissions. Go to the File menu, then select Make a Copy or Download to record your student assignments.
Prompts for Fall 2024 NSMC online contests
Online submission materials are made available for use in preparing entries for selected JEA National Student Media Contests. Each zip file contains contest instructions and all materials needed to complete your entry. For full contest information, go to the main JEA National Student Media Contests page and scroll down to the National Student Media Contests section.
Online photo contests 28 Sports Action Photography, 29 Sports Feature Photography, 30 Feature Photography, 31 General/Spot News Photography, 32 Photo Story, 34 Portrait Photo and 35 First Year Photo do not have materials to download as the entries should be photos taken during this school year. Contest 33 Photography Portfolio also doesn’t have material to download but entries can include photos from the entire high school career.
Online broadcast contests 36 Broadcast News Story, 37 Broadcast Sports Story, 38 Broadcast Feature Story and 39 Broadcast Commercial/PSA do not have materials to download as the entries should be stories broadcast during this school year.
Download all Fall 2024 NSMC Philadelphia prompts and online contest materials.
09: Newspaper Layout
View/download assignment prompt
10: Newsmagazine Layout
View/download assignment prompt
16: Yearbook Layout – Theme
View/download assignment prompt
17: Yearbook Layout – Inside Pages
View/download assignment prompt
18: Yearbook Cover/Endsheets
View/download assignment prompt
19: Literary Magazine – Layout
View/download assignment prompt
23: Graphic Design – Logo
View/download assignment prompt
24: Graphic Design – Infographics
View/download assignment prompt
25: Graphic Design – Advertising
View/download assignment prompt
26: Graphic Design – Photo Illustration
View/download assignment prompt
27: Themed Photo
Theme for fall 2024: Freedom
40: Videography
Theme for fall 2024: Independence
41: Podcast
Theme for fall 2024: Independence
For full contest information, go to the main JEA National Student Media Contests page and scroll down to the National Student Media Contests section