ATHENS, Ohio -- More than 80 high school students will hone their journalism skills during the 58th annual High School Journalism Workshop at Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism from June 19 through June 21.

For the third year, the Scripps Howard Foundation is supporting the workshop by providing grants for 30 minority and other underrepresented students to attend and is funding two competitive $5,000 scholarships to Ohio University's Scripps School. The Scripps Foundation is also funding the participation of a student and two faculty members from Hampton University in Virginia. A June 18 pre-workshop program for grant students, called Future Communicator Day, will provide an orientation to the Scripps School and Ohio University.

Most of the workshop participants are high-school newspaper editors, writers and advisers from Ohio, with about a dozen of the attendees from out of state.

"The workshop is a great opportunity to help build and improve the skills of young journalists," workshop coordinator Lisa Lopez Snyder said. "It's also an exciting way for students to get hands-on experience in news writing, editing and news judgment from top professionals in the field -- all under one roof."

Ohio University Scripps School faculty and staff members, professional journalists, and newspaper advisers will be among the workshop staff.

"A strength of this workshop is the diverse mix of participants," said Lopez Snyder, "as well as the increased interaction among high school advisers who are sharing classroom resources with each other and through outreach efforts of our own Scripps faculty."

This year's adviser session, on Friday, features two high school teachers who will discuss their networking activities and offer tips for others, she added.