TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The College of Communication and Information Sciences at The University of Alabama has accepted 30 students for the largest Multicultural Journalism Workshop in the 21-year history of the program. The previous largest class, in 1998, had 26 participants.

Formerly the Minority Journalism Workshop, it was renamed in 2003 to reflect the growing diversity of students attending the workshop. All racial and ethnic minorities and others from underserved populations are eligible to attend.

Students learn reporting, editing, writing, graphics, production, broadcasting, the business of journalism and online/new media from top educators and journalists.

Students will produce a newspaper, a TV program, write for the College’s Web site, learn about college life and get their first instruction in news gathering, writing on deadline, interviewing, photography, editing, graphic design, time management, media law, news judgment and ethics.

They will use the latest in digital video and computer equipment in the UA journalism department, WVUA7-TV, Center for Public TV and Radio and the McWane Center Newsroom Studio in Birmingham. They will tour UA public radio and TV facilities, campus media, the College of Communication and Information Sciences and Cox Radio in Birmingham.

The annual workshop costs $30,000 and is free to participants. Students 14-18 years old live with a roommate in a UA dorm, eat in UA dining halls, study in UA libraries and play in UA recreational facilities. To be accepted for the program, applicants competed for slots by submitting grades, writing samples and recommendations from teachers and local journalists.

In a special feature of this year’s workshop, inner city newspapers published with grant support from the Scripps Howard Foundation ( Memphis) and the McWane Center and Alabama Press Association Journalism Foundation ( Birmingham) are sending members of their staffs for the first time.

This year’s MJW is financed by grants from Cox Radio Inc., of Birmingham, the Knight Foundation, The Tuscaloosa News, the Mobile Register, Alabama Press Association Journalism Foundation, Alabama Broadcasters Association, Mercedes-Benz USA International, and for the 21 st consecutive year, the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund.

“MJW is an excellent recruiting tool for the University and the department of journalism,” said Dr. Edward Mullins, journalism department chairman and 21-year MJW veteran.

“More than 1,000 racial and ethnic minorities have taken their first steps toward a career crucial to a democratic society through our program,” Mullins said. “At Alabama, we know that for the mass media to represent all people fairly and for our own program to thrive, we need to develop excellence in many sizes, shapes and colors.”

MJW alums have gone to work all over the country at national newspapers and magazines, as well as scores of small- and medium-market newspapers, TV stations and regional magazines.

Visiting professionals teach and coach. “Professional Day” will be Thursday, July 8. Professionals will coach students as they gather information, take pictures and write their stories for the College’s Web site, DatelineAlabama.Com, for VOICES, the workshop tabloid, and for VOICES ON TV, Mullins said.

Dr. George Daniels, assistant professor of journalism, is a Howard University and University of Georgia graduate who co-directs UA’s workshop and chairs the UA Multicultural Journalism Program Committee. A similar workshop at Virginia Commonwealth University in the 1980s influenced him to become a journalist. And as a graduate student in Athens, he served on the staff of the Georgia Journalism Academy.

“For many high school students, workshops such as ours can be a life-changing and career-defining experience,” said Daniels, whose dissertation at Georgia took him to Alabama high schools to study factors related to choosing a career in the mass media.

For a complete schedule of events surrounding this year’s Multicultural Journalism Program see http://www.ccom.ua.edu:16080/mjw/index.html.