It doesn’t take a Georgia peach to realize the importance of this state to JEA. After reading these 100 facts you’ll surely have Georgia on your mind.

Programming
1. GSPA Student Ambassadors
2. GSPA’s Fall Conference in Athens
3. GSPA’s First Amendment Competition
4. GSPA’s Georgia Champion and Junior Champion Competitions
5. GSPA’s Spring Workshop and Awards in Athens
6. GSPA’s Adviser’s Workshop
7. GSPA’s Summer Media Academy
8. Warner Bros. Discovery Youth Media Summit

Organizations
9. Georgia Scholastic Press Association
10. Southern Interscholastic Press Association member

Famous Media Outlets
11. Atlanta Journal-Constitution
12. Cable News Network
13. WAGA – FOX5
14. WGCL – CBS46
15. WGTV (PBS)
16. WSB-TV (ABC)
17. WUVG (UNIVISION)
18. WXIA – 11 Alive (NBC)

Great Collegiate Newspapers
19. The Clark Atlanta University Panther – CAU
20. The Colonnade Online – Georgia College
21. The Emory Wheel – Emory
22. The George-Anne – Georgia Southern
23. The Maroon Tiger – Morehouse
24. The Mercer Cluster – Mercer
25. The Piedmont Navigator – Piedmont
26. The Red & Black – UGA
27. The Saber Online – Columbus State
28. The Sentinel – KSU
29. The Signal – Georgia State
30. The Technique – GT
31. The Tiger’s Roar – Savannah State
32. The West Georgian – UWG

Notable Journalism Programs
33. Center for Collaborative Journalism – Mercer University
34. Department of Communication – Georgia College
35. Department of Communication – Georgia State University
36. The Department of Communication Arts – Georgia Southern University
37. Department of Journalism and Mass Communications – Savannah State University
38. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications – UGA
39. School of Communication & Media – Kennesaw State University

JEA Lifetime Achievement
40. Sylvia Daughtry, Tucker High School in Tucker, Georgia in 1992
41. James Driscoll, Georgia in 1995
42. Margaret Johnston, University of Georgia professor and former GSPA Director in Athens, Georgia in 1996

Heroes of Scholastic Journalism
43. Dr. Charles N. Davis, Dean of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at UGA
44. Dr. Joe Dennis, Associate Professor and Department Chair of Mass Communication at Piedmont College, former JEA Georgia State Director, former GSPA Director, former Southern Interscholastic Press Association Executive Committee member
45. Frank D. LoMonte, legal counsel for the Cable News Network, adjunct professor at UGA’s School of Law, former Executive Director of the Student Press Law Center
46. Professor Mark E. Johnson, Principal Lecturer at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at UGA, frequent speaker at GSPA, NPPA and Poynter Institute
47. Stephanie Moreno, GSPA Director, Southern Interscholastic Press Association Executive Committee member

Yearbook Advisers of the Year
48. Adrienne Forgette, MJE, JEA Special Recognition Yearbook Adviser 2016, Darlington School, Rome, Ga.

Resources
49. Ugagspa.org
50. https://knowyournews.org/
51. https://grady.uga.edu/digital-natives/
52. https://coveringpoverty.uga.edu/
53. https://grady.uga.edu/solutions-journalism-at-the-university-of-georgia/

SIPA Elizabeth Dickey Distinguished Service Awards
54. Slyvia Daughtry-Brown, retired educator at Tucker High School in Tucker, Ga., was recognized in 1994.
55. Dr. Joe Dennis, Associate Professor and Department Chair of Mass Communication at Piedmont College, former JEA Georgia State Director, former GSPA Director, and former Southern Interscholastic Press Association Executive Committee member, was recognized in 2010.
56. Frank D. LoMonte, legal counsel for the Cable News Network, adjunct professor at UGA’s School of Law, and former Executive Director of the Student Press Law Center, was recognized in 2012.
57. Chris Floore, Macon-Bibb County Government Chief Communications Officer, former Assistant to the County Manager, former Director of Public Affairs, and former Director of Public Relations Bibb County School District, was recognized in 2012.
58. David A. Ragsdale, CJE, adviser ODYSSEY Media Group and iliad Literary-Art Magazine at Clarke Central High School (Athens, Ga.), was recognized in 2015.
59. Coni Grebel, CJE, (retired), CJE, formerly advised Trojan yearbook and Panoptic Online newspaper at Lee County High School (Leesburg, Ga.), was recognized in 2016.

CSPA/Dow Jones/JEA National Teachers of the Year
60. David A. Ragsdale, CJE, 2022 CSPA National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year, 2019 CSPA Distinguished Adviser

Administrators of the Year
61. Cheryl Finke, 2003 JEA Administrator of the Year, Chamblee High School

NSPA Pacemaker 100 List
62. The Southerner – Midtown High School, Atlanta, Georgia

National High School Journalists of the Year
63. William J. Bishop, National Journalist of the Year (1987), East Coweta High School, Sharpsburg, Ga. (James K. Driskill, adviser)
64. Jason Espby, National Journalist of the Year (1991), Chattooga County High School, Summerville, Ga. (Allen Perry, adviser)
65. Kinsey Lee Clark, National Journalist of the Year Runner Up (2011), Clarke Central High School, Athens, Ga. (David A. Ragsdale, adviser)
66. Carlo Nasisse, National Journalist of the Year Runner Up (2012), Clarke Central High School, Athens, Ga. (David A. Ragsdale, adviser)
67. Melissa Liu, National Journalist of the Year Runner Up (2022), Northview High School, Johns Creek, Ga. (Meredith Evans, adviser)

Student Press Freedom Awards
68. The Red & Black, University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, 1992.
69. BluePrints, Cedar Shoals High School in Athens, Georgia – Stephany Gaona-Perez, Brittany Lopez, and Jacqueline Wright, 2020.

Famous Georgia Journalists
70. Furman Bisher
71. Conrad Fink
72. Lewis Grizzard
73. Charlayne Hunter-Gault
74. Deborah Norville
75. Ernie Johnson, Jr.
76. Monica Jones Kaufman Pearson
77. Edwin Pope
78. Celestine Sibley
79. Maria Taylor

I did not know that…
80. Georgia has had three governors simultaneously – two different times.
81. The Okefenokee in south Georgia is the largest swamp in North America.
82. Elberton, Georgia is the Granite Capital of the World.
83. Georgia is home to the oldest state park in the nation.
84. Georgia is home to 65 threatened and endangered plant and animal species.
85. Georgia became the first state to charter a state-supported university on January 27, 1785 when the University of Georgia was incorporated by an act of the General Assembly.
86. Georgia has 159 counties, more than any other state east of the Mississippi.
87. The only county in Georgia named after a woman is Hart County, named for Nancy Hart, a patriot and warrior in the fight against the British during the Revolutionary War.

Scholarships
88. The E. Lanier (Lanny) Finch Scholarship, Georgia Association of Broadcasters
89. Georgia Press Educational Foundation, Georgia Press Association
90. Grady College Scholarships, UGA

Certified Journalism Educators and Mentees
91. JEA Mentees: Jaime Poole (mentor is Erin Coggins), Jennifer Mastin (Kaitlin Edgarton is mentor), Jennifer Farnham (Margaret Edmonson is mentor), and Josie Smith (Joy McCaleb is mentor)
92. JEA CJEs: Jeremy Beauchamp, Samantha Berry, Joshua Brewer, Gwendolyn Childers, Thomas Collins, Jr., Shelby Day, Tenniel Edwards, Maureen Farry, Marc Ginsberg, Jesse Hancock, Kacie Kerkhof, Leslie Klein, Andrea Lyons, David A. Ragsdale, Natalie White, Shanon Woof
93. JEA MJEs: Dr. Amanda Bright

Good Eatin’ (and Drinkin’)
94. Coca-Cola
95. Georgia peaches
96. Georgia peanuts
97. Jittery Joe’s Coffee
98. The Varsity’s Frosted Orange

Founders
99. Margaret Johnston founded the Georgia Journalism Academy in 1984, which was then called the “High School Newspaper Workshop.”
100. John Drewry founded The Georgia Collegiate Press Association in 1933. The Georgia Scholastic Press Association was organized by the (then) Grady School of Journalism in 1928. Steadman V. Sanford was the director of the school at the time. (Info obtained from “Centennial” by E. Culpepper Clark)