NHSPA Critique Entry Information Forms

WHY SHOULD YOU DO CRITIQUES?

If you are a new adviser or your school is new to the NHSPA, critiques are a wonderful opportunity we provide to membership that allows them to have their school publications critiqued by certified judges nationwide. The publications are also eligible for awards that are presented at our fall convention in October. If you are not interested in the award portion, the critique itself is worth it. Our judges do an excellent job of providing extensive feedback on ways to improve your publications.

A COUPLE OF THINGS TO NOTE: 

• The postmark date for ALL entry forms and payment is Monday, June 10, 2026. If your forms are submitted and paid for after this date, they can still be critiqued, but they will not be eligible for an award.

• Broadcast, online, newspaper, and spring yearbooks are also due with entry forms and payment.

• Pricing

  • Newspaper, Online and Broadcast critiques are $50

  • Digital/PDF yearbook critiques are $50

  • Physical yearbook critiques are $75

• Please use some type of tracking to ensure that your publications/forms/payments make it to their destination. There have been a handful of publications in the last few years that have gotten lost. Tracking can ensure your packages arrive and give you peace of mind.

• The packets the judges will be using to critique the forms are the same as the ones they used last year.

• This one is more of a personal note. On each entry form, there is a “TO THE JUDGE” portion for you to tell the judge about your school, special circumstances, etc. If you feel there is more that you would like to tell the judge than space provides, please feel free to attach a letter to your entry form. If there is any additional info you would like that might help the judge, please let them know. We strongly encourage you to include a letter to the judge as judges can only evaluate what they see in your publication. 

CATEGORY-SPECIFIC ITEMS:

Yearbook Critiques: 

• Spring Books – Your book and payment BOTH need to be postmarked by Monday, June 10, 2026.

• Fall Books – Your payment is due Monday, June 10, 2026. Your book is due Monday, Aug. 24, 2026.

**NEW TO 2026** In efforts to reduce travel time from adviser to critique coordinator to judge and back, we’re requesting that all 2026 yearbooks be sent digitally to [email protected]. This is especially important for for fall delivery books as the turnaround time is greatly reduced before fall convention. We have confirmed that all three major yearbook companies would honor requests to digitalize books. However, if you feel your book needs to be judged via a physical copy, please send them to my home Omaha address and I will gladly send them to a certified judge. This also applies to other print publication types. This address can be found in the most recent emails regarding critiques.

Broadcast Critiques:

• If you are submitting your broadcast for critiques, PLEASE EMAIL ME YOUR ENTRY FORM AND LINKS TO SHOWS/PACKAGES. The PDF is fillable. Copy/paste the links you would like the judges to critique and email them my way. This will save you the time of writing them all out (thank you so much for those of you who did this last year) and our judges the time of typing them into their computers!

Newspaper Critiques: 

You may submit up to three issues of your publication for critique. If you did not produce three issues throughout the year, please include that in your notes to the judges.

WHERE TO SEND ENTRIES/PAYMENTS: 

HERE IS AN INVOICE TO USE IF YOU NEED ONE: Critique Invoicing 2025-2026

CHECK ON YOUR CRITIQUES:

If you would like to check on the status of your shipments/payments, use the link provided by Mr. Bjorklund. This worked pretty well last year and helped to alleviate the stress that comes with wondering if your entries/payments have arrived. I will start adding publications and payments as soon as they trickle in!

BROADCAST MEDIA CRITIQUE FORM

NEWSPAPER CRITIQUE FORM

ONLINE MEDIA CRITIQUE FORM

YEARBOOK INFO CRITIQUE FORM