SPJ Florida tops $15,500 of grants awarded to improve scholastic journalism

By Daniel Axelrod

Students from around the Sunshine State will soon buy new equipment and better deliver news for their campus communities, thanks to the Society of Professional Journalism Florida Chapter’s 2026 High School Newsroom Grant competition.

SPJ Florida – one of the Society of Professional Journalists’ largest, most-decorated chapters – is proud to announce five high schools that will each receive $500 to improve news operations.

This is the chapter’s eighth year recognizing the can-do spirit of the high school media outlets, which increasingly fill gaps in the local news ecosystem and protect taxpayer dollars by questioning school administrators’ decisions and prompting programmatic changes. All told, SPJ Florida has awarded more than $15,500 to high schools since beginning its High School Newsroom Grant competition in 2018.

This year’s grant recipients:

• South Dade Senior High in Homestead’s BUC Nation TV
• Miami Senior High School’s Stingtown News in Miami
• Tarpon Springs High School’s Tarpon Talks in Tarpon Springs
• Cocoa High School’s La Voz del Tigre in Cocoa
• Professional and Technical High School’s Patriot Productions in Kissimmee

South Dade Senior High’s BUC Nation TV will buy valuable video equipment for “a hands-on production studio where students gain technical skills, creativity and confidence,” including HD video cameras or camcorders, tripods and other essentials, student media advisor Kimberly Rowe said. The grant will help “transform our classroom into a working TV production studio that mirrors real-world media environments,” Rowe said. “Access to technology should not limit a student’s ability to learn and create.”

Journalism education for young people “provides them with a platform to express their ideas, report on school events, and develop skills that prepare them for college, careers and civic engagement,” Rowe added.

Tarpon Springs High School has been using the same TV production monitors since 2002, student media advisor Christopher “Kip” Michalak told SPJ Florida. “It would be nice for students to train on equipment that is not older than them!” said Michalak, who, like so many dedicated educators, pulls double- and even triple-duty serving student media, coaching a high school sports team and serving as student media advisor.

Cocoa High School student newspaper advisor Steffannia Cleary said her students’ bilingual paper, La Voz del Tigre, creates a sense of community for students and connects the wider community to the school. SPJ Florida’s grant will pay for equipment to “help create a sense of professionalism and identity, especially when students conduct interviews, attend school events, or represent the newspaper within the community,” Cleary said.

SPJ Florida’s grant will assist Professional and Technical High School in getting its fledgling Patriot Productions news outlet off the ground by funding a teleprompter, a boom mic and better lighting.

And Miami High School plans to buy professional-grade microphones to produce news packages, community features and human-interest stories, student media advisor Miguel Amaya said.

Like Amaya, who’s teaching and giving back after serving as a decorated local TV reporter, the SPJ Florida chapter’s members, current and former journalists, journalism students and educators, love supporting scholastic storytelling.

“High school journalism classes teach and inspire students to evaluate, comprehend, analyze, synthesize and present news and information in engaging ways” said Christiana Lilly, Boca Magazine’s editor-in-chief and coordinator of SPJ Florida’s High School Newsroom Grant program. “So many of us discovered our love for journalism in high school, and SPJ Florida is proud to support our Florida classrooms with these grants. A little truly does go a long way.”