Adam Johnson, a Stanford creative writing professor who won this year’s Pulitzer Prize in fiction for his novel, The Orphan Master’s Son, will kick off the series on Monday, June 24. Johnson, who graduated with a B.A. from the Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, is a Whiting Writers’ Award winner, the author of Emporium, a short story collection, and the novel, Parasites Like Us. His books have been translated into 23 languages, and he was a 2010 National Endowment for the Arts Fellow. His work has appeared in Esquire, Harper’s, Playboy, GQ, Paris Review, Granta, Tin House, The New York Times and Best American Short Stories. 

The heartbreaking story of Jun Do, a North Korean citizen who becomes a government kidnapper and then tries to navigate his way — both literally and figuratively — through the repressive regime of the Hermit Kingdom, The Orphan Master’s Son began in reportage. During a 2007 visit to North Korea, Johnson witnessed starving citizens trying to pick chestnuts in a park (a forbidden act) and truckloads of “volunteers” being taken to fields for harvest work. From those journalistic beginnings, the novel takes a huge imaginative leap into literary fiction, in an effort to tell the many stories of a country that Johnson, in an interview with the PBS NewsHour, described as a literary monoculture.

“In North Korea, there is only one story and everyone is a secondary character,” Johnson said. “You have to censor yourself.”

On Tuesday, June 25, Scott Landis, a Newsroom by the Bay faculty member and former University of Oregon student editor who was the driving force behind OR, one of the first-ever iPad magazines, will speak on social media. Scott has been a team leader for the past two years and has personally mentored a number of NBTB students into iPad and online publishing.

How technology and politics come together — and sometimes collide — will be the subject of a talk by Michelle Quinn, a technology reporter for Politico.com, on Wednesday, June 26. Michelle has worked at the Los Angeles Times, the San Jose Mercury News and theSan Francisco Chronicle. Most recently, she wrote a general news blog for The New York Times and worked as a media adviser to Jerry Brown in his capacity as attorney general. 

Eric Burse, the National Association of Black Journalist’s Student Journalist of the Year, will speak Thursday, June 27 about a subject he’s taken to heart — how to create your own personal brand as a journalist, including the do’s and don’ts of shaping your own digital footprint. A graduate-to-be of the Annenberg School of Journalism & Communication at the University of Southern California, Eric has contributed to a number of campus publications and also works as an intern for “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.” He is a popular speaker and appeared recently at the National Scholastic Press Association/Journalism Education Association Spring National High School Journalism convention in San Francisco. You can see Eric’s personal brand at work on his website.

Our final speaker, on Friday, June 28, is Nick Ferentinos, a veteran, award-winning adviser, whose students made their own headlines when their plans to publish a profile of a student who was HIV-positive were nearly dashed by the Supreme Court’s decision in Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, which gave school administrators broad powers to censor student publications.

The story of how the students of Cupertino, Calif.’s Homestead High School prevailed — and ultimately published their story — is a fascinating moment in student journalism. Nick’s presentation will include a panel of former students as well as reporters involved in the case, and they’ll  talk about how a little-known California law made it possible at the last minute for Nick’s students to exercise their First Amendment rights.

Good news! We received word this week from Stanford that we will have some additional space in Adelfa, our dorm for this summer. That means an additional nine spaces for residential students.

Starting now, we will be filling those slots on a first-come, first-served basis, meaning that we will review and accept your application as soon as it is completed, including your adviser or teacher recommendation. Payment will be due upon receipt of your acceptance. Unfortunately, we will not be able to reserve your space until payment is received.

We also have approximately nine spaces left for commuter students.

Click here for a description of our program, here for instructions on how to apply, and here for how to pay.

Including the additional spaces, we anticipate a camp of approximately 56 residential students and 20 commuters, with young journalists coming to us from Malaysia, China, South Korea, the Netherlands and Pakistan, and all across the U.S. We’ve been very impressed so far with the quality and the vision of our applicants and we think this summer will be truly amazing.

We know that it’s been a long school year and sometimes your summer plans don’t quite come together as rapidly as you’d like. So we hope that this is good news for you, too! If you’re planning to attend the JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention in San Francisco from April 25-28, please drop us a line at newsroombythebay@gmail.com and we’ll be happy to meet up with you and answer any questions. You can also contact us at newsroombythebay@gmail.com or check out our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Yes, our April 1 payment deadline is next weekend, but we will extend that payment deadline for any application already in process as of April 1.  That’s right — fill out your application this week and send it to us by next Monday, and we may be able to give you flexibility in getting in your recommendation and payment.

Also, although we only have a few residential spaces left for this summer’s camp,  we anticipate that we may get a few more beds from Stanford in the coming weeks. Now is a good time to reserve your space.

So, what are you waiting for? If your dream is to have fun in the sun this summer and sharpen your journalism skills for next fall, it’s not too late!

Your journey starts with our application page. Looking forward to hearing from you!

It’s also amazing to see applications this year from all over the world — Pakistan, China, South Korea and the Netherlands — as well as 16 states, from New York to California and South Dakota to North Carolina. 

While we want to respect your privacy, if you are an accepted student, we can tell you that your fellow acceptees include:

• writers working on cross-cultural websites connecting the U.S., Mongolia and Malaysia;
• actors, cello players, singers, and dancers of ballet and kathak, a classical Indian form;
• teens who swim, cheerlead, and play rugby, softball, baseball, soccer, tennis and basketball (and the list goes on);
• passionate readers of The New York Times, the short stories of Anton Chekhov, and “descriptive adjectives, exciting verbs, and salient visuals”;
• talented journalists who want to learn more about writing — editors-in-chief, morning broadcasters, webmasters and page designers;
• talented writers who have never taken a single journalism class, but can’t wait to begin with us.

We’re also inspired by the essays you’ve sent us. With her permission, here is one we received recently from Isabel Ullman, of Notre Dame High School in San Jose, Calif.:

” ‘No puedo alimentar a mis hijos con amor: I cannot feed my children on love.’ In an intimate discussion with my Spanish class, ‘Maria,’ a day worker, spoke with candor, transforming my image of immigrants. She told us how she had come to the U.S., desperate for economic sustainability, but in the process had to leave her children behind. She sighed as she admitted the difficulty with which she scrambles for jobs. When her arms would rather be around her children, they are busy wiping counters and vacuuming floors. But the hourly rate here, 10 times what she would make back home,  allows her to feed her children.  

“Suddenly I saw ‘Maria’ not as a generic illegal immigrant, but as a human with a pressing problem.  Each person, no matter their circumstances, has a story. Some stories are constantly bubbling up and overflowing from peoples’ lips. But many stories, like Maria’s, are suppressed, hidden in little crevices in the heart. It is these stories that need to be told, to wake society up to the humans behind the political issues.  I see journalism as a catalyst for change.”

Camp is still four months away, but we can’t wait to meet Izzy and all of our accepted students. Congratulations to all!

It’s only March, but we’re happy to say that applications for NBTB 2013 are running well ahead of last year. We’re rapidly filling spaces for our residential program, for which we typically take 40 students.

For this reason, at this time we are reaching out to all accepted students who intend to be residential campers with a request that you pay as soon as possible in order to reserve your space. Though we have a payment deadline of April 1, we fill spaces as payments arrive, so the best way to make sure you are on the list is to send a check or PayPal payment. Instructions on how to pay can be found right here.

After April 1, we will immediately offer spaces to the students on our waiting list.

We do still have plenty of space for commuters. If you would like this option, please contact us at newsroombythebay@gmail.com or click on “Apply” above and fill out an application. Thanks!

If you’re an accepted student and you have not received a reg packet, please email us at newsroombythebay@gmail.com and we’ll send one immediately.

And if you haven’t yet applied, don’t delay. Applications for summer 2013 are well ahead of last year and we don’t like to turn away qualified students. Email us at newsroombythebay@gmail.com if you have questions. Hope to see you this summer!

Arriving on Saturday, June 22, you’ll be met on campus by NBTB staff, checked into your dorm room and introduced to team leaders and program staff. Then we’ll head into downtown Palo Alto for a delicious group dinner. Afterwards, it’s your choice of an evening activity, such as a twilight walk on campus or popcorn-and-movie, or simply early-to-bed in preparation for Sunday. The next morning, grab a map and start learning your way around the second-biggest university campus in the world; discover Tresidder Student Union, buy a T-shirt at the Stanford Bookstore or visit the new Bing Concert Hall. We’ll supply breakfast and lunch. Our program officially kicks off at 3 p.m. though fellow students will begin checking in at noon. By that time, you’ll be rested and ready to begin!

The cost of Early Check-In is $100. If you would like to participate, please email us at newsroombythebay@gmail.com and send your check to us at Newsroom by the Bay, P.O. 20105, Stanford, Calif. 94309. We’ll confirm your space as soon as possible. Please note that we will also ask you for travel details so that we can work with you to schedule ground transportation from local airports to NBTB on campus.