The Inkspot, Community’s journalism program, was awarded a $1,490 grant on Sept. 9 through the Illinois Press Foundation’s High School Journalism Grants Program. Sponsored by the Illinois Farm Bureau, the program awarded over $22,000 in total grants to 16 high schools across the state.
The grant enables the Inkspot to purchase a wireless video transmission system to enhance students’ multimedia and broadcasting capabilities.
The funds will allow the Inkspot to keep up with what Jeff Rogers, the executive director of the Illinois Press Foundation, calls “the evolving nature of journalism education.”
“Journalists do everything these days. There are few specialists,” Rogers said. “Just as the industry is changing at a rapid pace in newsrooms across the state, how students are learning about and practicing journalism in Illinois high schools is quickly evolving as well.”
The funds allow the Inkspot’s students to keep up with the changing face of journalism, allowing the program to improve its broadcast coverage and provide students additional hands-on learning experiences, allowing the Inkspot staff to develop in areas like play-by-play announcing, color commentary, sideline reporting, video editing and production and audio engineering.”
“Journalists at the high school level,” Rogers said, “are doing a lot of everything.”
Matt Wettersten, the Executive Director of Marketing, News and Communications at the Illinois Farm Bureau, said that this year saw the highest number of grant applicants since the bureau began sponsoring the program four years ago.
“That tells us two things,” Wettersten said, “the need for financial assistance is real. But also, the interest in our grant program and journalism at the high school level is growing.”
This is the second grant the Inkspot has received from the Illinois Press Foundation. In 2021, the program was awarded $1,500 to purchase camera and microphone equipment.