Newspaper Critiques
Instructions
Dear Judge:
Thank you for agreeing to critique Michigan print newspapers and newsmagazines.
PLEASE REVIEW OUR CRITIQUE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE STARTING YOUR WORK.
MIPA’s newspaper standards are designed to provide a framework for the judge in evaluating the newspaper or newsmagazine, to reward the staff for creativity and accomplishment and to provide suggestions for improvement for future issues. We have tried to make this guide as open-ended as possible to allow the judge to consider all aspects of the student newspaper and its audience.
The booklet is available as an online form or as a traditional paper booklet you can write on and mail to us. If you’ve received one format and would rather have the other, please email us at ask@mipamsu.org. We recommend you print or otherwise save a copy of each booklet before you send it off to us — just in case! We also have a worksheet version of the critique guide in Word and Google Docs to help you prepare your work. Many judges find it’s then easy to copy and paste into our online form.
Please offer plenty of useful feedback and evaluate publications on journalistic standards while allowing experimentation for a purpose. We allow schools to send in non-consecutive issues, but all should be from the current school year unless otherwise indicated by the MIPA office.
If a school wants annotation, you will find a bright sheet of paper attached to the newspapers. In the case of annotation, please mark as much as possible on the newspaper itself and add comments in the critique book as well. Newspapers seeking annotated comments pay more to have their publication critiqued, and we pay our judges more for this extra work.
We will process payment for your work as soon as all of your entries are received in the office.
To the right you’ll see some important info and below is a primer on how we like to have our newspapers critiqued by our judges. On the back of this page is a statement about best practices for critiques endorsed by MIPA and other organizations. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the MIPA office at 517-353-6761 or ask@mipamsu.org.
Sincerely,
Jeremy W. Steele, MIPA executive director
C.E. Sikkenga, Newspaper chairperson
What to do first
Here’s what we've sent you
Up to 3 newspaper entries (of 3 newspapers each)
Paper critique book for your reference (shipped packages only)
If you requested paper critique books, you also will have:
Blank critique books (1 per entry)
Addressed, postage-paid envelope to return completed critiques to MIPA
If you are completing annotated critiques, you also will have:
UPS label already affixed to an envelope to return completed critique books and annotated publications to MIPA
How to return critiques to MIPA
Our critique form is built on the Qualtrics platform. Qualtrics uses cookies to save your work as you go. If you need to leave your work for an extended period, please skip ahead to the last page and submit your work so far. You will receive an email that will include a link that will allow you to revise what you previously have submitted.
A Word or Google Doc worksheet is available, from which you can copy and paste your work into the online form.
For paper critique booklets and/or annotated critiques:
Use the envelope and shipping label we provide to return critique booklets and/or annotated yearbooks to MIPA.
Please drop the package in any UPS box or have your school UPS driver pick it up from your school office.
Do not send the critique back to the newspaper adviser!
IMPORTANT!
Please keep a copy of each critique for your records (just in case something happens).
If for any reason you cannot finish your judging by the deadline, please let us know immediately. We can get someone else to take over!