Coal Cracker, a Mahanoy City, PA-based youth-led newspaper will host a FREE journalism skills workshop on Saturday, January 24, from 12:30 – 3:00 pm at the Mahanoy City Public Library at 17-19 West Mahanoy Street. The workshop is open to young people, of any school district, in grades 5 – 12. The day will feature two simultaneous tracks, grades 5-7 and 8-12, learning: Photography with Nikki Stetson and Sandy Long Basic News Writing with Chris Mele Please pre-register by emailing
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Since its launch in December 2013, Coal Cracker—a youth-led engagement journalism project spearheaded by Heron’s Eye Communications co-founder Krista Gromalski—has published five issues covering hard-hitting topics like blight, bullying, beauty standards, and marriage equality. Our reporters have interviewed author Trebbe Johnson about the coal region’s wounded landscape, chatted with founder of the legendary Woodstock concert Michael Lang, and gone behind the scenes at the Little League Baseball World Series. We’ve paid our young journalists about $500 (and lots of pizza)
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What’s a Coal Cracker? Think you know? It’s a question being posed by young Coal Region journalists to launch a new Mahanoy City-based youth-led media project titled, appropriately enough: Coal Cracker. Young participants are inviting the public—of all ages—to stop by the Mahanoy City Public Library during regular hours of operation to answer the question: “What’s a Coal Cracker?” by writing on, drawing on or decorating a 24″ x 36″ poster. The exercise is a way to explore our diverse
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