Jan. 10 Portfolio Polish focuses on organization and documentation

The next Journalism of the Year Portfolio Polish Zoom-in will help prospective students tackle the organization and documentation aspects of creating their online portfolio.

The gathering will be held Monday, Jan. 10 at 7:30 p.m. CST.

Panelists will include 2021 JEA Journalist of the Year Riley Atkinson of Kansas and runner-up Grant Johnson of Texas. The college students will be joined by Michigan adviser Ava Butzu and Florida adviser and JEA Journalist of the Year coordinator Joe Humphrey, MJE. 

“Attendees will get a behind-the-scenes look at building portfolios and writing meaningful reflections to accompany work samples,” Humphrey said. “Those reflections are more important than many applicants think because they serve as a conversation of sorts with evaluators.”

Three additional Portfolio Polish Zoom-ins will be held each Monday night in January, with a Jan. 17 look about photojournalism, a Jan. 24 talk on design and a Jan. 31 discussion about web and social media. 

This Portfolio Polish will join a growing collection of tutorial videos and other resources aimed at helping applicants for Journalist of the Year. The site was recently redesigned to better serve prospective applicants and their advisers.. The Journalist of the Year scholarship competition begins at the state level, with winning portfolios advancing to JEA, which will name one $3,000 scholarship winner and four runners-up, who each will receive $1,000 scholarships.