Mini Page

The Mini Page is a syndicated newspaper supplement for children, created and authored by Betty Debnam.^[1]

History

The Mini Page began in August 1969 and appears weekly in over five hundred newspapers in the United States as an offering of Universal Press Syndicate.^[1] Its regular features include short articles, puzzles, jokes, and recipes. Universal Press has also published several Mini Page spinoff books covering subjects such as history, geography and the environment.^[1]

The supplement was conceived as a cross between the Weekly Reader and a newspaper comics section, with an underlying mission of encouraging family-centered reading and literacy.^[1] It was the first supplement of its kind when it debuted in August 1969 in the Raleigh, North Carolina News and Observer.^[1] The Mini Page's first issue had a "Back to School" theme and included a mini-profile of L.A. Rams quarterback Roman Gabriel and a "Faces in the News" section asking readers to identify a picture of Spiro Agnew.^[1]

When Debnam created the Mini Page, she had been an elementary school teacher for twelve years and had never drawn before.^[1] Initially, she handled all tasks involved in the Mini Page's production, including researching, producing, laying out and editing all the content.^[1] She was also responsible for selling advertising, which is no longer included in the supplement. Debnam now has a two-person staff but still researches and writes the front and back pages of each issue.^[1]

Awards

In 1999, as the Mini Page celebrated its thirtieth anniversary, Debnam was inducted into the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame and received the first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award from the Newspaper Association of America.^[2] In 2001, Debnam was inducted into the Association of Educational Publishers' hall of fame.^[3] She won a 2007 Distinguished Achievement Award from the AEP for The Mini Page Guide to the Constitution, a nine-part series that was released as a book by Andrews McMeel after appearing in newspapers.^[4]

Betty Debnam

Debnam credits her inspiration for the Mini Page to her family, especially her grandmother, who ran a small weekly newspaper in Snow Hill, North Carolina.^[1] Her grandfather was a school superintendent and edited the newspaper; her father was a newspaper reporter in Norfolk, Virginia.^[1] Debnam is married to Richard Hunt, a former Associated Press reporter and military adviser to Hubert Humphrey.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Oldenburg, Don. "The littlest readers' champion: The Mini Page is 25, but its editor keeps it young." The Washington Post, 1994-08-30, p. C5.
2. ^ Astor, David. "Et cetera." Editor & Publisher, 1999-09-04, p. 42.
3. ^ Astor, David. "Et cetera." Editor & Publisher, 2001-12-17, p. 19.
4. ^ "Award for 'Mini Page' series on the Constitution." Editor & Publisher, 1997-06-14.

Additional articles

• Broadwell, Charles. "The Mini Page's seal of approval." Fayetteville Observer, 2001-11-04.
• Drevets, Trivia. "She meshes teaching with newspapers." Editor & Publisher, 1987-01-17, p. 44.
• Hellinger, Dan. "Post's Mini Page brainwashes children." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1999-02-01.

External links

• Universal Press Syndicate
• The Mini Page Archive (1969-2007) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library