INTRODUCTION

The Great Ideas For Teachers (GIFT) Program was established in 2000 by the Community College Journalism Association (CCJA) and the Small Programs Interest Group (SPIG) for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) annual summer convention to recognize excellent standards in teaching journalism and mass communication courses and to provide colleagues with fresh ideas for creating or updating their lessons.

The Scholastic Journalism Division and Graduate Education Interest Group have joined CCJA and SPIG as co-sponsors to support the program. More GIFTs, door prizes at the convention, this Web site and commemorative certificates for both GIFT scholars and judges (to include in their teaching portfolios) are a part of the festive experience.

The program is highly competitive (45% acceptance rate in 2005, 29% in 2006, 42% in 2007, 40% in 2008 and 37% in 2009) and it is an honor for journalism and mass communication educators to be selected as GIFT scholars.

GIFT is the original innovative teaching tips competition at AEJMC and has become a model for similar pedagogical contests in other divisions and interest groups.

NEWS

Congratulations to Dr. Daniel Reimold of Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) for winning the 2009 GIFT grand prize at the AEJMC Boston convention. Read his winning entry HERE.

Download a special 10th anniversary "gift" for free HERE. PDF pages were extracted from the 2009 GIFT journal featuring a research article on the GIFT program by former grand prize winners Dr. Dave Cuillier and Carol Schwalbe ("10 Years of Great Ideas--A summary of 253 GIFTs and 10 tips for creating your own terrific teaching tools"). Plus a historical timeline of the GIFT program is included.

Thank you to Dr. Edna Bautista, founder and coordinator of GIFT, for her 10 years of service and dedication to the program. The main sponsors are in the process of searching for a new coordinator as she decides to work on other projects yet remain in an advisory role during the leadership transition.

GIFT CALL

This page issues the "Call for GIFTs" and gives the timeline of the GIFT process. GIFT articles are accepted between Feb. 1-April 1 for the August AEJMC convention.

GIFT FORM

This page gives instructions on how to format and submit GIFTs by the annual uniform deadline. A Word form template is downloadable for convenience and standardization.

GIFT PHOTOS

This page has the program promo and photos from the AEJMC convention.

GIFT WINNERS

This page contains reprints of the grand prize winning GIFTs.

GIFT SCHOLARS

This page lists GIFTs presented at the AEJMC convention and includes information on how to get copies of GIFTs.

GIFT FAQs

This page answers some frequently asked questions about GIFT, gives advice to participants and has "praise for the program".

LINKS

This page has links to AEJMC, CCJA, SPIG, Scholastic Journalism Division and other Web sites related to teaching journalism and mass communication.

CONTACT GIFT

[email protected]