N.C. Scholastic Media Association’s roots extend back to 1936 when UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus newspaper began sponsoring the North Carolina Scholastic Press Institute. One of the leaders of that student-run operation was David Stick. In his archived papers at the Outer Banks History Museum, Stick describes organizing the annual workshops, as well as his summer jobs at North Carolina newspapers.

A fledgling program once offered by busy college journalists evolved into a statewide media association in 1941 when it became part of UNC-Chapel Hill’s journalism program. Professor Walter Spearman served as the first director, and he continued in that role for three decades. Today, NCSMA serves scholastic journalism and works for its advancement, and it is an arm of the School of Media and Journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

NCSMA continues to celebrate and to champion scholastic journalism through the following programs:

The website here commemorates the association’s long 75-year history.

Director: Monica Hill
Editor: Samantha Sabin
Designer: Susannah Brinkley
Photographer: Lauren Vied Allen

Students in the NCSMI 2016 TV News sequence covered the 75th anniversary celebration in their package below: