Smith named 2016 Yearbook Adviser of the Year by JEA

Nancy Smith, MJE, adviser at Lafayette High School in Wildwood, Missouri, was named the 2016 H.L. Hall Yearbook Adviser of the Year by the Journalism Education Association (JEA) on Monday.

JEA, an educational organization for journalism advisers, bestows this top honor annually on a high school yearbook adviser in recognition of their work in scholastic journalism in their school and across the country throughout their career.

Smith has advised the yearbook staff at Lafayette High School for 22 years. In the past year, she has been awarded JEA’s Medal of Merit and the Pioneer Award from the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA). In 2014, Dow Jones News Fund named her a Distinguished Newspaper Adviser.

When Smith joined the faculty at Lafayette, she taught one newspaper class with 13 students. She has since built the journalism program into four publications – yearbook, newspaper, online news and digital media – each of which she advises.

JEA named one Distinguished Adviser this year: Justin Daigle, CJE, from Brighton High School in Brighton, Colorado.

Two advisers were selected as Special Recognition Advisers: Adrienne Forgette, MJE, from Darlington School in Rome, Georgia; and Leland Mallett, CJE, from Legacy High School in Mansfield, Texas.

Smith and all of the honorees will be recognized during the adviser luncheon April 8 at the 2017 JEA/NSPA Spring National Journalism Convention in Seattle.