Keep the Cappies in The Washington Post!
- by: Judy Bowns, Co-founder/Director of The Cappies
- recipient: Community members who value the arts in our schools!
We learned just last week (as our first Cappies show of the school year opened) that THE WASHINGTON POST coverage, once so coveted and amazing that it literally gave birth to The Cappies program, would no longer be possible. In the past, POST editors have nurtured The Cappies to become the program it is today--an international organization with eighteen chapters in the US and Canada, and the POST has set the gold standard for other major newspapers to open their pages to budding journalists. Student-written reviews for area high school theatre programs have been published weekly, many times with a photo of cast or crew. Cappies coverage has been alive and well in the Metro area including Fairfax, Montgomery County, Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, Loudoun, and Prince William as well as the District of Columbia but the POST says there is no longer room.
The Kennedy Center came on board in large part due to the support THE WASHINGTON POST had already extended, and for nine years The Kennedy Center has hosted the Cappies Gala (a Tony award style program) that fills the Concert Hall each June with 2400 screaming theatre students, along with their families and friends.
Please note that the Cappies program does not begrudge the abundance of coverage for high school sports--recently increased in the POST to a full page many days--but it also wants the POST to continue coverage for the hundreds of multi-talented arts students and student journalists by publishing one or two student-written Cappies reviews once a week. THE WASHINGTON POST IS the big carrot that our students pursue, both as budding young writers and as actors whose performances are reviewed.
Look at the website www.cappies.com for a better idea of what the Cappies is all about. We embrace thousands of students in fifty five public and private schools in this metro area and we believe that there is a place for everyone in theatre.
Please sign our petition to show Mr. Donald Graham, chairman of THE WASHINGTON POST Company, and Ms Katharine Weymouth, Publisher and CEO, how much the support of THE WASHINGTON POST means to so many exceptional high school students, their families and friends!
...and to Mr. Donald Graham and Ms. Katharine Weymouth,
This petition will hopefully illustrate clearly the invaluable role that The Washington Post has played in making The Cappies a reality. From The Cappies very inception over ten years ago, it was the Post that brought this program to the community's and ultimately to the nation's attention. It was the Post%u2019s willingness to support young journalists and their theatre peers that caught the attention of major newspapers across the U. S. and Canada.
While the Post is the nation%u2019s newspaper, the Extras and now the Local Living sections are the community newspapers. As the petition states, The Cappies in no way wants to diminish the importance of other school activities that include literally thousands of students. The Cappies only requests that students who excel in theatre and journalism be given a space in the local news as well%u2014the kind of first rate coverage they have enjoyed the past ten years.
Thank you for considering our request. We think we can promise you both continued readership and new readership as well.
Judy Bowns
Cappies Co-founder/Director and
By signing, you accept Care2's Terms of Service.
You can unsub at any time here.
Having problems signing this? Let us know.