Clayton News Daily

The 36th Annual Georgia Student Media Festival (GSMF), will be hosted by Clayton State University, later this month, at the Clayton County Public Schools Professional Learning Center, located at 1087 Battle Creek Road in Jonesboro.

The event will be held Friday, April 27, from 8 a.m., to 3 p.m., and is also sponsored by the Georgia Association for Instructional Technology (GAIT) and the Georgia Library Association (GLA), who are also in partnership with Georgia Public Broadcasting.

John Shiffert, director of university relations at Clayton State, said Clayton State’s library has always been heavily involved in the annual event. “Dr. Gordon Baker, dean of Clayton State University Libraries, along with Michelle Lenderman, media coordinator of Bibb County Schools, and Deborah Gray, of the broadcast department of Gwinnett County Schools, serve as co-chairs of the festival,” said Shiffert.

In addition, he said, Heidi Benford, the Clayton State Library acquisitions assistant, and Jennifer Duke, its administrative assistant, will oversee the GSMF Refreshment Committee, and other projects are being handled by various members of the library staff.

“In part, as a result, Clayton State hosts the GSMF Committee’s meetings throughout the school year,” said Shiffert.

He said the projects that will be displayed are the winning work from local school system festivals from across the state — from public and private schools. “Last year's 1,000-plus state festival projects represented the work of more than 4,000 students in Georgia schools,” he said.

He added that Baker was recently appointed to the steering committee of the International Student Media Festival. “He also was just re-elected for an eighth year as chair of the Henry County Library System's Board of Trustees,” said Shiffert.