Note: This page is a work in progress.
My FB page “Plain English: Special Program in Journalism and press conferences” has discussions and resources for SPJ teachers and students. Campus journalism teachers and students from all over the world will also benefit from this page.
I will update this page weekly, with the latest posts placed at the bottom part of each category. (If you can't find a resource under a specific category, you can search for it in the “Miscellaneous topics” section.)
Copyreading and Headline Writing
Grammar Girl’s Editing Checklist
Proofreading Exercises (Easy, Medium, and Hard) by Duncan Croker from Chevron Editing
Design (layout, graphics, websites, and blogs)
Modern Newspaper Layout Tips for Schools; 10 rules of composition all designers live by from Canva
Ten essential Wix tutorials for beginners | My experience as a self-taught website designer and a blogger since 2003 (The good old days of Dreamweaver, MS-DOS, and Windows 3.1) | Notes to SPAs, SPJ teachers and students, and members of online publishing teams; Jakob Nielsen, father of writing for the internet: Content is king, not jazzy website designs or eye candy graphics
Award-winning US high school publications (newspapers, front page, spread, news magazines, specialty magazines, etc.) | Do you think your own campus publications are on par with or even better than these winners?
Editorial Cartooning
Editorial Cartooning: tips and resources for contestants in the press conferences
Informative and insightful discussions about editorial cartoons by Anto Mario (ToonsMag) with numerous examples of excellent editorial cartoons
Editorial Writing and Column Writing
Editorial Writing tips and resources for contestants in the press conferences
Editorial Writing (exercise with fact sheet; guidelines for effective editorials; sample editorial - supporting; sample editorial - opposing) | PDF resource from University Interscholastic League (The University of Texas Austin)
Plain English (instead of journalese) for the press conference contestants in news, features, editorials, columns, sci-tech, mojo, online publishing, TV-radio scriptwriting and broadcasting
Free resources from The New York Times for SPJ classes on editorial writing and column writing: Student Editorial Writing Contest Winning entries from 2014 to 2023 and argumentative writing prompts | The New York Times’ new Open Letter opinion contest that teenagers 13 to 19 from around the world can join
Pulitzer Prize-winning editorials from 1917 to 2023 | Parallelism as an effective technique in writing
Writing the Opinion Column (free PDF from University of Texas School of Journalism)
Logical fallacies explained for editorial writing and column writing contestants in the press conferences
Feature Writing
Different ways of structuring a feature article (whether in English or Filipino)
The Complete Book of Feature Writing: From Great American Feature Writers, Editors, and Teachers (1991) edited by Leonard Witt; from Public Journalism Network
Online copies of Reader’s Digest and Guideposts
Resource for feature writing contestants (English and Filipino) in the press conferences: Creative writing using photographs
The Girl in the Window (2009 Pulitzer Prize winner for feature writing; 8,000-plus words)|Story by Lane DeGregory; Photos by Melissa Lyttle
Free resources
Free 900-plus interactive exercises on English grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, verbal analogy, etc (average of 10 items per exercise; with time limit and automatic scoring)
Spoken English Learned Quickly (free resource for learning how to speak conversational English fluently in a year: with MP3 lessons in American or light British accent)
Lesson plans and other resources for SPJ teachers
Free lesson plans and resources from The Guardian Foundation that SPJ teachers can adapt https://www.facebook.com/61558331019289/posts/122113583366277700/
Free resources from The New York Times: five short videos for Sci-Tech contestants and SPJ students; free lesson plans that SPJ teachers can adapt
Free, online teaching resources — lesson plans, do activities, worksheets, videos, etc. — for high school journalism teachers from Missouri School of Journalism
Free lesson plans for teaching writing and creating to your SPJ students through 13 New York Times columns as models
Hundreds of free standards-aligned lesson plans for K-12 classrooms from Pulitzer Center
40 Cooperative Learning Lesson Plans for Journalism from Green’s J-School
Free resources for SPJ teachers; lesson plans for discussions and activities from SchoolJournalism.org
Miscellaneous topics
Madman—Architect—Carpenter—Judge Paradigm for contestants in the individual writing contests of the press conferences
As SPA or SPJ teacher, which kind of students are you developing — campus journalists or contest journalists?
Should college students who want to enroll in courses such as Journalism or Mass Communications be required to pass an entrance test or exit test on English grammar proficiency?
Blackout Poetry using old newspapers (icebreaker or team building activity for your SPJ students)
Language Errors in Campus Journalists’ News Articles: Its Implication to Writers Interlanguage (2018) study by Lyoid Hunahunan, Surigao del Sur State University | Improper use of verb tenses the most recurrent error; the dire need for intervention activities to address campus journalists’ linguistic difficulties
Tips for aspiring writers from Pulitzer Prize-winning writers | 80-20 rule; Anecdotal leads instead of inverted pyramid; To be a good editorial writer, become a good reporter first; Emotional storytelling — the future of journalism?
Textbooks for SPJ classes — print and online | Writing and Reporting for the Media (13th edition) from Oxford University Press: it’s quite expensive around 100 US dollars per copy, but it’s probably the best textbook for SPJ classes; free online resources for students from Writing and Reporting for the Media (11th edition)
What art and drama can do for journalism by Robin Kwong (The Financial Times, 2019)
Free website usability guidelines book from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Book donation to Rizal High School
The Film Club (The New York Times Learning Network): short documentary questions for legal developing close reading and critical thinking skills
Daily poetry for schoolpaper staff meetings and for SPJ classes?
William Faulkner’s The agony and sweat of the human spirit 1950 Nobel Prize for Literature acceptance speech
The Chaos and Beyond Forgetting poems for SPJ Advanced English II students
Fun activity for SPJ students as icebreaker or as they wait for classes to begin: Cups game with the song When I’m Gone from the 2012 movie Pitch Perfect starring Anna Kendrick
Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity (study by Prof. Daniel M. Oppenheimer of Princeton University, 2006 Applied Cognitive Psychology Journal)
Interactive exercises on English grammar and vocabulary based on Korean historical dramas; creating your own interactive exercises for SPJ classes using freeware Hot Potatoes
Writing activity for SPJ students based on Alma (award-winning animated short film)
Rewordify: Free online tool for SPJ teachers to create lessons for their students and for students to understand difficult English texts
Some observations about a video created by journalism students from Philippine Science High School - Bicol Region Campud about heat stroke for a local coffee shop
How false news can spread - Noah Tavlin (TED-Ed animated video lesson)
Train Your Brain (24 TED-Ed video lessons, mostly animated, for critical thinking and media literacy skills)
More than words: Enough (creative editorial from The San Diego Union Tribune, April 20, 2018 expressing outrage the continuing mass shootings in US schools)
Ten elements of good journalism from The Elements of Journalism by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel | The Essentials of Journalism by Tom Rosenstiel (collection of guides that explains the basic principles and elements of good journalism)
Gen Zers don’t care about fact checking; their most trusted sources of news and opinions are online comments section and inluencers | The secret digital behaviors of Gen Z by Adam Rogers (senior correspondent Business Insider)
Churnalism, McDonald’s death knock Monkey ... 250-plus examples of British journalism jargon (useful for newbie SPAs, SPJ teachers and students) | Journalism Glossary: A List Of Words That Every New Journalist Needs To Know | 2018 American Press Institute survey; A significant number of Americans don’t know (1) what op-ed means, (2) what’s the difference between an editorial and a news story, and (3) what’s the difference between a reporter and a columnist
How AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Bard work – visual explainer (The Guardian)
Top 10 Most Fearless Female Journalists (MsMojo, 2020)
UNESCO free resource: Journalism, Fake News & Disinformation: Handbook for Journalism Education and Training | UNESCO Series on Journalism Education; English grammar trivia on order of adjectives
Dancing with professors: The trouble with academic prose (1993) by Patricia Nelson Limerick (Yale University, Harvard University, and University of Colorado; one of the leading historians of the American West) | The intersection of academic and journalistic writing by a Filipino academic who’s teaching in a Thailand university and a contributor to the Philippine Daily Inquirer
UNICEF Guidelines for journalists reporting on children | Principles and guidelines to help journalists report on children’s issues in a way that enables them to serve the public interest without compromising the rights of children
Using TikTok to drive young people to the news (International Journalists’ Network)
Defence Handbook for Journalists and Bloggers on Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Information Principles in International Law from Thomson Reuters Foundation, Reporters Without Borders, and Paul Hastings LLP
Discovering my love for reading and for Literature | Rappler opinion: How can teachers develop a reading habit among learners?
Journalism and Math: Words? Yes! Numbers? Noooooo!!! Noooooo!!! | How Journalists Can Overcome Math Anxiety; Does Math Matter in Journalism?; Mathematics Reporting: An Uncrowded Niche for Writers; Demystifying Math in Journalism: Bringing Numbers to Life in Reporting; Siobhan Roberts, mathematics journalism contributor to The New York Times, even though math was her worst subject in high school
The story of journalism (PDF) from Inside Reporting; A Practical Guide to the Craft of Journalism by Tim Harrower (award-winning editor, designer and columnist)
How journalism is turning emotional and what that means for the future of news and In the Role of Emotion in the Future of Journalism by Professor Charlie Beckett (London School of Economics)
Paris Charter on AI and Journalism: Ten principles for journalists (Nov. 2023) | Ten Commandments for journalists (from various authors and sources): Thou shalt repent with speed and sincerity; Thou shalt live in a glass house; Make all copy conform to the AP Stylebook; When two elephants fight ...
Ten Basic Reporting Errors by Prof. Rick Durham
Classic advice on good writing by Mark Twain, H. W. Fowler (1906), Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s Brevity Memo, and Lee Kuan Yew, first Prime Minister of Singapore (1979)
The continuing relevance of George Orwell’s six rules for good writing from his 1946 essay Politics of the English Language
The 20 Most Common Sentence-Level Faults Among Legal [and other] Writers by Bryan A. Garner
Journalists are infatuated with the word amid
Clear Writing Guidelines from the Asian Development Bank’s 2024 Handbook of Style and Usage
Campus journalism makes students confident with academic writing but not with social media (where they are hesitant and preferred using Tagalog instead of English) | Analyzing impacts of campus journalism on student’s grammar consciousness and confidence in writing engagements by Jason V. Chavez and nine other writers from Zamboanga Peninsula Polytechnic State University and Mindanao State University
My journey as a writer | Thanks to the people who encouraged or inspired me to become a writer — my high school English journalism teacher; a substitute English professor in UP Diliman; the beautiful guidance counselor in Vinzons Hall; a Kiwanis Philippines district governor; my Chem 17 classmate in UP Diliman (a Manila Science High School graduate); Kerima Polotan, the Philippines’ best informal essayist
Miscellaneous writing lessons
Miscellaneous writing lessons (Part 1): Avoid using word-numeral doublets; avoid using said as adjective
Miscellaneous writing lessons (Part 2): Use short sentences for news, features, editorials, sports, columns, etc.
Miscellaneous writing lesson (Part 3): Comma, comma, comma chameleon! All about Commas, comma splice, serial or Oxford comma, and the million dollar comma case
Miscellaneous writing lessons (Part 4): Use the active voice, minimize the passive
Miscellaneous writing lesson (Part 5): How to write clear, concise, and direct sentences; Paramedic Method of editing wordy sentences; free tools and apps for writing such as Hemingway Editor, Drivel Defence, and Rewordify
Miscellaneous writing lessons (Part 6): Zombies! How to write concisely and clearly by avoiding nominalizationm
Miscellaneous writing lesson (Part 7): Avoid dummy subjects or expletive constructions and unnecessary preamble
Miscellaneous writing lessons (Part 8): Between versus Among; Less versus Fewer; Starting a sentence with But or And
Miscellaneous writing lesson (Part 9): Beware, thesaurus lovers and journalists, especially sports writers! Avoid elegant variation to achieve clarity
Miscellaneous writing tips (Part 10): Justin Bieber’s If I was your boyfriend l, subjunctive mood, and other guidelines on using verbs, Said: A perfect word and a journalist’s best friend, etc. | The secret of using tenses in scientific writing
Miscellaneous writing tips (Part 11): How to organize your paragraphs — in English or Filipino — using T-R-I, T-R-I-I-R, TRIAC, Barclay’s Formula, OIC, or MEAL Plan
Miscellaneous writing lesson (Part 12): Techniques for gender-free or gender-neutral writing
Miscellaneous writing lesson | (Part 14): 10 grammar rules you can forget: how to stop worrying and write proper (The Guardian) | Differences between American English and British English, between American English and Standard Philippine English; Free resource: 900-plus interactive exercises on English grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, verbal analogy, etc.
Miscellaneous writing lesson (Part 15): OCAR, ABDCE, LDR, LD — story structures (for various genres of writing) that you can choose from, depending on your audience’s willingness to wait for your story’s point | Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded (Oxford University Press; 2011) by Joshua Schimel
Miscellaneous writing lesson (Part 16): Crash blossoms — headlines that are ambiguous, funny, ridiculous, or weird because of clumsy writing or the constraints of headline writing
Miscellaneous writing lesson (Part 17): Invariant be or habitual be — I be like ...; It do be like that; These dreams be waking me up; Being a Street Vendor in the Philippines Be Like.. (title of a Jessica Lee YT video)
MOJO (mobile journalism)
Mojo (free) resource for people 13 to 24 years old: Finding Digital Stories: The Youth Reporter Project Toolkit from Plan Intrernational Philippines
A Free Guide to Mobile Journalism Part 1 to Part 7 by Ivo Burum | Think story first, not technology; SCRAP — mojo’s equivalent of traditional 5Ws and 1H
Step-by-Step guide to shooting IPhone video with cheat sheet
Mojo tip: Two shots, three shots, or five shots ... How journalists can improve video stories with shot sequences by Casey Frechette
Mobile Journalism: The New Media Frontier 2023 webinar from NATAS (National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Suncoast Chapter
Mojo video Piano Dreams (14-year old Syrian girl refugee who learned to play the piano professionally through YouTube) and other videos by Philip Bromwell, one of Ireland’s pioneering mobile journalists
10 Tips to improve your mobile videos – Mobile Journalism PDF by Robb Montgomery (Eastern Illinois University - Smart Film School)
20 Most asked Questions by Ivo Burum (2017)
Romanian journalist trained for only four days on how to film and edit on his smartphone; watch his first ever mojo video Homeless Baths
Mobile Journalism Manual
Mojo advantages and limitations during the 2015 Charlie Hebdo terrortack in Paris, France
Best phone for Mobile Journalism – A checklist with real results by Robb Montgomery, illustrated by his award-winning mojo videos
The three pillars of mobile journalism – storage capacity, power, and connectivity | journalism.co.uk interview with Marc Settle, BBC’s smartphone reporting trainer
A mobile journalist gets more vox pop interviews than a traditional TV crew | Closer to the Story? Accessibility and Mobile Journalism (Reuters Institute study, 2016) by Finnish journalist Panu Karhunen
News Writing
Inverted pyramid structure is boring and stale? Try using the Hourglass Style (from Poynter’s Roy Peter Clark) or the Focus Style (from the Wall Street Journal)
How To Write a Speech Story from JProf’s Jim Stovall (University of Tennessee) | PDF resource for News Writing contestants (English and Filipino) and SPJ students
Handbook of Independent Journalism by Deborah Potter
Various news writing PDFs (with excellent discussions and illustrative examples, and great layouts and graphics)
Photography and photojournalism
Free 40-plus lessons on photography and photojournalism for SPJ students and press conference participants; for example, surf to Photojournalism (35): How to write photo captions; Campus news photography and working on your yearbook
Free resources for SPJ teachers and their students on photography and photojournalism from Photzy (more than 250 PDFs)
Resources on photojournalism for SPJ teachers, their students, and photojournalism contestants in the press conferences from Reynolds Journalism Institute
National Geographic video series on the power of photography
What’s Going On in This Picture? (The New York Times): Think, write, and interact with teens from around the world
10 Movies All Photographers Should Watch! by Tatiana Hopper
Ten principles for photojournalists (Northeastern University’s School of Journalism) in order to become effective and compassionate storytellers
Taking Great Pictures: Advice from Pulitzer-Winning Photographers
Photo essay with a point-and-shoot digital camera, a tablet and an Android smartphone
Missouri Interscholastic Journalism Association (MIJA) Photo of the Month Winners, with judges’ critique
The history of photography in 5 minutes by COOPH, the Cooperative of Photography
Photography 101: Bite-sized Photography Lessons from Snapshot Canon-Asia
Street photography: bite-sized lessons from Snapshot Canon-Asia | Differences between street photography and photojournalism; Differences between documentary photography and photojournalism; Free resources on street photography by Eric Kim, Thomas Leuthard, etc; The Shy Photographer’s Guide to Confidence
10 ways to improve your sports photography, from a pro
Photojournalism Online Training: Free and hands on online course for aspiring photojournalists [YouTube videos] by the Pathshala South Asian Media Institute (supported by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Media Programme Asia)
How to Write Photo Captions: A Guide for Photojournalists
Miscellaneous lesson on photography, photojournalism, videography, and cinematography (Part 1): Rule of Odds — shooting an odd-numbered group is easier than shooting an even-numbered group; odd-numbered groups are visually pleasing — shooting an odd-numbered group is easier than shooting an even-numbered group; odd-numbered groups are visually pleasing
Miscellaneous lesson on photography, photojournalism, videography, and cinematography (Part 2): Leading lines to focus the viewer’s eyes to a specific part of the frame or to create depth, with examples from Korean dramas such as True Beauty, Vincenzo, and Alchemy of Souls
Basic Photojournalism Tips by Mark Grabowski (professor Adelphi University in New York): shooting tips, writing captions, editing photos, ethical considerations, etc
See the Story free learning resource (interactive PDF) from World Press Photo
Learning good photography from old National Geographic magazines (just like Hannah Reyes Morales, award-winning documentary photographer from the Philippines)
Visual cues used in Korean dramas that can improve your photo essays or mojo videos; How Korean director Bong Joon-ho used lines in Oscar-winning movie Parasite to depict and reinforce conflict or division between the rich family and the poor family; Think story first, not technology | Miscellaneous lesson on photography, photojournalism, videography, and cinematography (Part 3) | Free whole-day seminar-workshop on photography, photojournalism, and sports photography for schools in Metro Manila and in Rizal Province
100+ Creative Photography Ideas: Techniques, Compositions and Mixed Media Approaches | Heart-shaped bokeh from K-dramas such as A Business Proposal, Misaeng, and Strong Woman Do Bong-soon
Is photojournalism art? | Sebastião Salgado’s 1986 black-and-white pictures of the workers in the Serra Pelada gold mine in Brazil settles for me the question of whether photojournalism is art: Technically excellent photojournalism that moves the hearts and minds of viewers is art
Award-winning photographs from Sony World Photography Awards (2020, 2021, and 2022)
Award-winning photos from 2021 International Photography Awards
Cheryl Diaz Meyer, a multi-awarded Filipino American photojournalist and 2004 co-winner of Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for Iraq War coverage | ...we are no closer to life than moments when we are so close to death; Photojournalism has more to do with curiosity than courage; Being small, a woman, Asian and a person of color are not detriments to being a photojournalist
Award-winning photographs from 2017 and 2023 International Photography Awards
Visual Verification Guide for Photos and Videos from First Draft News | Quick reference guides for verifying eyewitness photos and videos
Photojournalism seminar for Association of Private School Paper Advisers Holy Family School of Quezon City, July 10, 2024
Cheating Photographers by Michael The Maven
From Journalism to Photojournalism: My Story by Nicole Glass
7 Photojournalism Tips by Reuters Photographer Damir Sagolj (award-winning Reuters photographer)
RA 7079 Campus Journalism Act of 1991
RA 7079 Campus Journalism Act of 1991 (Part 1): How is the Editor-in-Chief of a high school or an elementary school publication selected?
RA 7079 Campus Journalism Act of 1991 (Part 2): The schoolpaper adviser of a high school or an elementary school publication — appointment, functions responsibilities and liability
RA 7079 Campus Journalism Act of 1991 (Part 3): With RA 7079 having no penalty clause, do campus journalists have any legal remedy if their rights are violated? | House Bill No. 1155 and Senate Bill No. 1464 (19th Congress), which seek to repeal RA 7079, provide penalties of fine, imprisonment, or both for violations of the rights of campus journalists
RA 7079 Campus Journalism Act of 1991 (Part 4): Supreme Court decision in the Miriam College case (2000) involving censorship, press freedom, and the right of schools to discipline students
Transcription of the official PDF copy of Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 7079 DECS Order No. 94, S. 1992 (for editorial board members, SPAs, SPJ teachers and students)
RA 7079 Campus Journalism Act of 1991 and its proposed repeal under House Bill No. 1155 and Senate Bill No. 1464 (19th Congress)
Radio-TV Broadcasting
Radio Broadcasting curriculum with free lessons from SchoolJournalism.org (lessons can be modified for print and online journalism classes, and television production modules)
Introductory and Level Up video production tutorials from Student Reporting Labs (PBS News Hour), a hands-on student journalism training program)
Television network newscasts persist in grammatical gaffes; TV news needs verbs; Gerund News (many newscasters disregard auxiliary verbs)
How To Read The News Like A Professional News Anchor | New York Film Academy Broadcast Journalism How To’s
How To Nail An Interview As A News Reporter from New York Film Academy Broadcast Journalism How To’s (for Radio-TV Broadcasting contestants and journalism students — news writers, sports writers, etc. — who need to learn interviewing skills)
The Ultimate List Of Broadcast Journalism Terms from New York Film Academy – School of Film and Acting
Broadcast Writing, Part 1 and Part 2 for student journalists | Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ)
Meowing, humming, vocal fry, dogs, and Bugs Bunny | Aerobics for your voice: 3 tips for sounding better on air (NPR) by Jessica Hansen
Transitioning from print to radio: Abandon the inverted pyramid because it’s the death of a radio story; De-graf the nut graph; Sound redefines the way we report and tell stories | The journey from print to radio storytelling: A guide for navigating a new landscape (NPR) by Alison MacAdam
Magandang gabi, bayan!: TV Newscasting Analysis: Towards Establishing Grammar Rules in Filipino Broadcast News (2019) by Maria Bulaong, Bulacan State University - College of Arts and Letters | Ang otoridad ay salitang ’siyokoy’ para sa awtoridad; Excessive use of po causes confusion
Award-winning broadcast news programs of US high schools | 2023 Broadcast Pacemakers by the National Scholastic Press Association
Science and Technology Writing
Science and Technology Writing: tips and resources for contestants in the press conferences (district, division, regional, and national)
The Guardian’s Secrets of good science writing series and the continuing relevance of George Orwell’s six rules for better writing from his 1946 essay Politics of the English Language
Science Writing and Scientific Writing may have different audiences, but the techniques for good writing are the same for both
Free resources for SPJ teachers and Sci-Tech writing contestants — more than 500 science journalism articles and Science Journalism Master Classes from The Open Notebook (with certificate of completion)
Sci-Tech Writing and poetry? Making Your Science Writing Sing: Craft Lessons from Poetry
Sportswriting
Qualities and characteristics of a a good sports feature article from What Makes Great Sportswriting? A Look into Traditions, Confirmity and Artistic Freedom | Sports Journalism Guidebook (PDF) from Al Jazeera
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