UIL Journalism Contests

Elements of the Contests

The UIL sponsors five journalism contests - News Writing (45 minutes), Feature Writing (60 minutes), Editorial Writing (45 minutes), Headline Writing (30 minutes) and Copy Editing (15 minutes). Students compete at the district level, and then the top three places advance to regionals. From regionals, the top three places advance to state competition. The UIL journalism program has seen increased participation in recent years. Many contests winners have gone on to excel as professional journalists.

Journalism Events Overview

Editorial writing teaches students to read critically, to digest and prioritize information quickly and to write clearly, accurately and succinctly. Emphasis is placed on mechanical and stylistic precision, news judgment, and the ability to think deeply, to compare and contrast and to argue or defend a point of view persuasively.

Feature writing teaches student to read critically, to digest and prioritize information quickly, and to write clearly, accurately and succinctly. Emphasis is placed on the same writing skills as other UIL Journalism Contests, as well as the ability to write descriptively.

News writing teaches students to read critically, to digest and prioritize information quickly and to write clearly, accurately and succinctly. Emphasis is placed on mechanical and stylistic precision, lead writing, use of direct and indirect quotes and news judgment.

Headline writing teaches students to read critically, to digest and prioritize information quickly and to write clearly, accurately and succinctly. Emphasis is placed on the ability to discern key facts and to write with flair and style in order to tell and sell a story.

Copy Editing teaches student the vital skills of proofreading and editing to create accurate, clear and succinct writing. Emphasis is placed on the ability to find and correct grammatical, spelling, punctuation, AP style and factual errors.

Centex Invitational Meet

The Centex Invitational Meet is a journalism-only virtual meet hosted by TAJE (Texas Association of Journalism Educators) and ILPC (Interscholastic League Press Conference). All prompts are written by Alyssa Boehringer, the UIL journalism director, and Rhonda Moore, the former TAJE executive director. Coaches who participate have a week to administer the contests. See the flier below for details. For questions, please email Alyssa Boehringer at aboehringer@uiltexas.org. 

Centex Information

Centex 2024 Registration