Bloomington North nominated for national journalism award

Bloomington High School North is one of seven schools in the nation named a finalist for this year’s First Amendment Press Freedom Award.\nLinda Puntney, executive director of the Journalism Education Association, said the six-year-old award entails more than just the knowledge of press freedom.\n“It represents schools that excel in the practice of the First Amendment rights in their press,” Puntney said.\nThe two-step process of the award consists of two rounds of questionnaires detailing the press freedoms granted to students, Puntney said. A student editor completes the first round of questions and an adviser or administrator fills out separate forms.\nRyan Gunterman, publications adviser at Bloomington North, said he sent the first round of questionnaires in last spring, early for the Dec. 1 deadline, and he nearly forgot about the questionnaires when he was notified of the school’s advancement to round two. \nThis is the first year Bloomington North has participated in the process, Gunterman said. He heard about the award through the Journalism Education Association and National Scholastic Press Association’s national convention and decided to enter the contest.\n“This award stands for everything we’re about,” Gunterman said.\nBloomington North has four different publications, and Elizabeth Robins, Nikean yearbook editor in chief, said the school promotes the First Amendment. She said the school has policies other schools do not, such as removing filters on the computers in order to aid research.\nRobins said not many people know about the freedoms, but said each publication staff has worked very hard to be where they are.\n“It’s exciting to be part of the process and let the student body know the (amendment’s) importance,” she said.\nThe school will submit the second round of questionnaires to the Journalism Education Association by March 1. Gunterman said he and five students will make the trip in April to the JEA/NSPA National Convention in Anaheim, Calif.,where the award will be announced.