DENTON (UNT), Texas — Twenty high school students from around the state of Texas were selected to attend the Emerging Journalists program, a two-year project by UNT’s Frank W. and Sue Mayborn School of Journalism supported by the Scripps Howard Foundation. The program is designed to help ensure that media operations of the near future better reflect the diverse publics they serve.

“The students selected represent a diverse group of storytellers with excellent potential to further the future of journalism in Texas,” said Dr. Dorothy Bland, a program director at the Mayborn School. “While many are from the Dallas-Fort Worth region, it is wonderful to have students from as far south as Killeen and Houston who share a great passion for multimedia storytelling.”

The Mayborn School’s five-part program will create a strong mentor network between students and working journalists, a series of high school workshops that will encourage and recruit new cadres of students, “career bootcamps,” in partnership with the national associations for Black and Hispanic journalists, opportunities for students to have their work published by major news organizations, and outreach and continuing education programs for regional high school teachers.

“This program is an exciting opportunity to invest in future storytellers. These students will get a chance to learn as well as engage with media professionals to get hands on experience,” said Neil Foote, a principal lecturer in the Mayborn School who will help direct the Emerging Journalists program with Dr. Bland.

Over the past year, the Scripps Howard Foundation hosted a competitive application process to select two programs as the recipients of the grants for its new Scripps Howard Emerging Journalists program. Journalism programs at UNT and Elon University were selected from a field of nearly 70 applicants.

"In the past, when young journalists have come to me looking for ways to learn and grow, I wish I could have pointed them toward a program like this,” said Mayborn alumna Leah Waters, a multiplatform editor for The Dallas Morning News who will direct the summer workshops beginning in July. “This new program will give aspiring journalists opportunities they've never had before in our region such as access to mentorship and internships that will be transformative in the lives of these teens."

The Emerging Journalists program is designed to:

• Introduce high school students of diverse socio-economic, racial and ethnic backgrounds to journalism through interactive programming and reporting experience.
• Legitimize and amplify student voices by providing a platform to share their stories.
• Create relationships and open educational pathways that potentially lead to careers in journalism.
• Provide ongoing access to mentors and professional support in the field of journalism.
• Bring together a community of organizations and individuals – including universities, news outlets and high schools – to support the development of program participants.

For more information, visit journalism.unt.edu/emergingjournalists.

ABOUT THE FRANK W. AND SUE MAYBORN SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM

The Mayborn School of Journalism, the only named and endowed school at the University of North Texas, trains more than 1,100 students in print/digital journalism, broadcast journalism, photojournalism, advertising and public relations. The Mayborn School, currently celebrating a tradition of 75 years of journalism instruction at UNT, is also home to the nationally known Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference.