Carthage High School Alumni
Carthage, Missouri (MO)
Alumni Stories
Homer L Hall
Class of 1956
Homer L. Hall, 1956 graduate of Carthage High School, has received numerous recognition for his teaching of high school journalism. Hall taught journalism at Kirkwood High School in Kirkwood, MO, for 26 years prior to his retirement in 1999. Altogether, he taught school for 36 years, mainly in Missouri.
He is still the only journalism teacher in the country to have been named the National Yearbook Adviser of the Year and the National Newspaper Adviser of the Year. In addition he was the first recipient of the Journalism Education Association’s Teacher Inspiration Award in 2000. He was a charter member of the Missouri Journalism Education Association’s (MJEA) Hall of Fame in 1996. He was also inducted into the National Scholastic Journalism Hall of Fame at Oklahoma University in 1992. MJEA selected him as its Journalism Teacher of the Year in 1972. In 1979 the State Department of Education named him the Missouri Teacher of the Year.
Other honors include recognition by the Texas Association of Journalism Educators and the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association for his contributions to scholastic journalism in those two states. He has four awards named after him, including the Journalism Education Association’s Yearbook Adviser of the Year Award. He was the first recipient of that award in 1995. He has also received the Gold Key from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, the Pioneer Award from the National Scholastic Press Association, and the Carl Towley Award from the Journalism Education Association. All three awards are the highest honors those organizations give.
In 1996 he became a member of Quill & Scroll’s board of trustees. He still serves on that board in 2013.
After retiring from the classroom in 1999, he and his wife, Lea Ann, moved to Nashville, Tennessee where their two daughters and grandchildren lived. For six years he served as director of the Middle Tennessee High School Press Association and the Tennessee High School Press Association at Vanderbilt University.
Because of his recognition as a scholastic journalism educator, he has spoken at workshops and seminars in three foreign countries (Canada, Germany and Russia) and more than 40 states, including Hawaii and Alaska. He is the author of two textbooks, Junior High Journalism and Senior High Journalism. The former was first published in 1969 and the latest edition, with a co-author, was published in 2010. The latter was first published in 1988 and the latest edition, with a co-author, was published in 2009. He is also the author of other journalistic publications.
Hall has also served the Journalism Education Association, the Missouri Journalism Education Association, the Kirkwood Community Teachers Association, and the Sponsors of School Publications of Greater St. Louis as president. He also held other offices in those associations. He is currently an adjunct instructor for an online course in Kent State University’s master’s program, and he serves as a judge for state and national organizations. He has evaluated more than 5,000 publications, both high school and college.
Hall can be reached by E-mail at hlhall1422@aol.com or by phone at 615-319-0732. He can give you contacts to verify his awards and achievements.
He is still the only journalism teacher in the country to have been named the National Yearbook Adviser of the Year and the National Newspaper Adviser of the Year. In addition he was the first recipient of the Journalism Education Association’s Teacher Inspiration Award in 2000. He was a charter member of the Missouri Journalism Education Association’s (MJEA) Hall of Fame in 1996. He was also inducted into the National Scholastic Journalism Hall of Fame at Oklahoma University in 1992. MJEA selected him as its Journalism Teacher of the Year in 1972. In 1979 the State Department of Education named him the Missouri Teacher of the Year.
Other honors include recognition by the Texas Association of Journalism Educators and the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association for his contributions to scholastic journalism in those two states. He has four awards named after him, including the Journalism Education Association’s Yearbook Adviser of the Year Award. He was the first recipient of that award in 1995. He has also received the Gold Key from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, the Pioneer Award from the National Scholastic Press Association, and the Carl Towley Award from the Journalism Education Association. All three awards are the highest honors those organizations give.
In 1996 he became a member of Quill & Scroll’s board of trustees. He still serves on that board in 2013.
After retiring from the classroom in 1999, he and his wife, Lea Ann, moved to Nashville, Tennessee where their two daughters and grandchildren lived. For six years he served as director of the Middle Tennessee High School Press Association and the Tennessee High School Press Association at Vanderbilt University.
Because of his recognition as a scholastic journalism educator, he has spoken at workshops and seminars in three foreign countries (Canada, Germany and Russia) and more than 40 states, including Hawaii and Alaska. He is the author of two textbooks, Junior High Journalism and Senior High Journalism. The former was first published in 1969 and the latest edition, with a co-author, was published in 2010. The latter was first published in 1988 and the latest edition, with a co-author, was published in 2009. He is also the author of other journalistic publications.
Hall has also served the Journalism Education Association, the Missouri Journalism Education Association, the Kirkwood Community Teachers Association, and the Sponsors of School Publications of Greater St. Louis as president. He also held other offices in those associations. He is currently an adjunct instructor for an online course in Kent State University’s master’s program, and he serves as a judge for state and national organizations. He has evaluated more than 5,000 publications, both high school and college.
Hall can be reached by E-mail at hlhall1422@aol.com or by phone at 615-319-0732. He can give you contacts to verify his awards and achievements.
Recent Members
| Andy Oxlaj Lopez | 2024 |
| Becky Talley | 1987 |
| Diana Smith Donald L Jones | 1961 |
| Gary W Lee Gary W Lee | 1992 |
| Margie Brenda D Williams | 1943 |
| Richard Rector | 1969 |
| Tracy Tracy Hatfield | 1985 |
| Victor Stark | 1997 |
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