Dianne Smith, author of Introduction to Journalism and Scholastic Newspaper Production, was the 2003 Texas Journalism Teacher of the Year, selected by the Texas Professional Communicators. She is also co-author of Middle School Journalism 1 and 2 with Tom Kaup. She is a 2000 recipient of the Edith Fox King Award for outstanding contributions to Texas scholastic journalism, and was awarded the status of Certified Journalism Educator (CJE) in 2000 and Master Journalism Educator (MJE) in 2001 from the Journalism Education Association. She was selected as a Dow Jones Newspaper Fund Special Recognition Adviser in 2001. She is listed in Who’s Who among America’s Teachers. In 2002, Dianne was named a First Amendment Mentor Teacher by the Freedom Forum. Vitally interested in First Amendment rights for student journalists, Dianne serves as chair of the First Amendment Issues Committee of the Texas Association of Journalism Educators and is a member of the Scholastic Press Rights Commission of the Journalism Education Association. She established and maintains the first independent web site dedicated to scholastic journalism at www.jteacher.com and serves as Webmaster for TAJE. She teaches journalism, photojournalism, and desktop publishing and advises the student newspaper in the Houston, Texas area.
