McAllen Memorial High journalism teacher Kelsey Martin will soon receive the Edith Fox King Award from the Interscholastic League Press Conference. The lifetime achievement award will be presented May 4 in Austin.

She is the first journalism adviser/teacher from McAllen ISD to receive this honor. She is also only the fourth in the Rio Grande Valley.

The award recognizes those people who have a life dedication to continuing the ideals of scholastic journalism. To be eligible for the award, candidates must have at least 10 years of service to Texas scholastic journalism.

This is Martin’s 26th year teaching at Memorial High. She teaches journalism, yearbook, newspaper and independent studies of journalism. In addition, Ms. Martin coaches six Academic UIL events:  Feature Writing, Editorial Writing, News Writing, Headline Writing and Copy Editing, as well as Current Issues and Events.

Her students have won 23 journalism regional medals and seven state medals. Since UIL created team journalism awards in 2012, Memorial has been the district champions every year and has twice placed second at the regional level.