First HBCU to hold the statewide contest

Winston-Salem State will add another ‘first' to the list of accomplishments as we become the first Historically Black College and University to host the North Carolina Collegiate Media Association 2012 Conference, Feb. 18.

More than 125 students and their advisers are expected to attend.

The NCCMA supports and encourages college media operations on public and private university and college campuses.

The association offers a one-day conference on a different campus each year.

"We are very excited to join the WSSU students and faculty, and especially grateful to Dr. [Lona D.] Cobb for making it all possible," said Monica Hill, director of NCCMA.

Cobb is a mass communications professor and adviser of the student newspaper, The News Argus.

The opening panel discussion will focus on the theme for this year's conference,  "Election Coverage."

Philip Jeter, chair of the Mass Communications Department, will be a member of the panel.

He and other mass communications faculty members will be conducting workshops.

The News Argus staff will be assisting with facilitation of the conference.

All the NCCMA activities will take place in the Thompson Center.

Highlights of the conference will include resume' critiques.

There will also be critique sessions for student-produced publications including yearbooks, literary magazines, and printed and online newspapers.

The student media advisers will meet for a roundtable discussion in The News Argus office in Carolina Hall.

One of the most anticipated events of the conference is the awards luncheon, where the winners of the 2011 competition will be announced.

Students from public and private institutions in North Carolina submitted contest entries that they produced January through November 2011.

Their entries will be on display at the luncheon.

The keynote speaker for the luncheon will be Roxanne Jones.

Jones is a founding editor of ESPN Magazine and former Vice President at ESPN.

She created programs  across media platforms, including television, print and online.

Jones will also be speaking in the R.J. Reynolds Business Center Feb. 17 to the WSSU community.

The event, open to the public, is sponsored by The News Argus and The Office of Student Activities.

"The location [of WSSU] will work well for many campuses in the area [participating in the conference]," Hill said.

 "We expect a really good conference [turnout]," Hill said.

NCCMA was formed in December 2007.

Its initial one-day conference in April 2008, was offered in the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UNC-Chapel Hill, which birthed the association.

 "The department [mass communications] is glad to do what we can to make the event a success," Jeter said.

"Dr. Cobb's success in getting it [NCCMA Conference] here shows her dedication in student media."