Entries must be postmarked by Thursday, Jan. 31, for the Guild's David S. Barr Award. Presented annually to one high school and one college journalism student, the award honors reporting that promotes issues of importance to working people and that contributes to the pursuit of justice and fairness. The awards include a $1,000 prize for the high school winner and $1,500 for the college winner.

In the weeks since the tragic events at Sandy Hook Elementary School, fringe conspiracy theorists have suggested that the shooting rampage there was staged or even perpetrated by the government to advance an anti-gun agenda—claims so absurd that even Glenn Beck has denounced them as preposterous. The fact that these theories have been circulating should not surprise us; tragedies frequently give rise to anti-government conspiracy myths (9/11, Waco, etc.). More surprising—and unfortunate—is how much attention some media outlets are devoting to these claims. While the coverage to date has generally sought to marginalize these conspiracy-mongers, it risks drawing more attention to their false claims and propagating the myth further.