The award-winning Bronx community newspaper the Norwood News is now accepting applications for the spring semester of Bronx Youth Heard, an after-school journalism program for high school students. The program is free and open to any high school student who lives or goes to school in the Bronx.

Throughout the course of the semester, students learn the fundamentals of writing, reporting, and photojournalism through classroom instruction and hands-on reporting in their own neighborhoods. They learn about community activism and civic responsibility, how their neighborhoods work (or don’t), who has power, who doesn’t and why. We take them on field trips and bring in guest speakers, including working journalists and public figures.

Best of all, at the end of the course, student work is published in a special youth-focused newspaper called Bronx Youth Heard, which appears in 15,000 copies of the Norwood News, giving youth a powerful voice in their own communities—not to mention a newspaper clip to add to their portfolios and college applications. Students will get paid for their published work and we will reimburse for MTA travel.

You can see a copy of Bronx Youth Heard, produced by students enrolled in the fall 2014 semester, here http://bit.ly/BYHPublishedJan2015. Also included is a flier and application form, which students should fill out and submit along with a typed, 400-word essay. In their essays, students should tell us about their academic and extra-curricular activities, which explain why they’re applying to the program and what they hope to get out of it. We’re looking for students of all academic abilities, but they should be highly motivated, love to write, be naturally curious, and care about what’s going on in their communities.

Applications and essays can be submitted online at http://bit.ly/BYHSpring2015.Or sent to: Bronx Youth Heard, c/o Norwood News, 3400 Reservoir Oval East, Bronx, NY 10467. The information can also be emailed to bronxyouthheard@gmail.com.

The Deadline for applying is Thursday, January 29. Classes begin on Thursday, February 5, and are held every Thursday afternoon for 12 weeks from 4 to 6 p.m. at Hostos Community College, located at 450 Grand Concourse. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach David Cruz, editor-in-chief of the Norwood News at (718) 324-4998 or bronxyouthheard@gmail.com. If you’d like to be informed about future semesters, please email as well.