Juniors Newsletter

Optical Calcite Crystals, Image Credit: Lora Hall

(See more about this image below)

Read All About It!

The lastest Edition of the New Juniors Newsletter is Hot Off The Press!

Click to read, download, and print your copy of Crack the News!

Crack the News - 2025-03.pdf

Every junior who enters an article, travel log, photograph, peom, or drawing to Crack the News earned a George the Geode patch to add to your other Future Rcokhounds of America patches and pins. Anyone entering 5 or more times, earns a Moroccan quartz cyrstal geode like the one pictured for your collection.

Calling all junior journalists, writers,

poets, photographers, and artists...

Do you want to see your work in print? We are looking for articles, poems, photographs, and art for the new Juniors Newsletter. The newsletter needs your rockhounding articles, photos, artwork, poetry, and other contributions. It could be an article about one of your favorite rocks, minerals, or fossils. Perhaps an article with photos of one of your favorite collecting spots. Maybe you would like to show off your lapidary jewelry you made. Or, you may have created poetry or artwork about rocks, minerals, or fossils. The only requirements are that you must be under 18 years of age and your contribution must be original and related to rockhounding, geology, paleontology, or the lapidary arts.

To submit your work have your parent complete the SUBMISSION FORM below and return it with your work to youth@amfed.org. Please submit your written work as a word.doc or .pdf and artwork should be submitted as a .jpg or pdf.

There is NO deadline to submit work for the newsletter.

Submissions will be accepted throughout the year!

Click to download Submission Form

2023 NEWSLETTER NAME & MASCOT CONTEST WINNERS!

Grand Champion Mascot: George the Geode – Rosalie Dunn, Georgia Mineral Society, GA

Grand Champion Newsletter Name: Crack the News – Rosalie Dunn, Georgia Mineral Society, GA

Under 12 Group: Mascot

1st Geo the Rockhound – Gabe Murphy, Hellgate Mineral Society and the Bitterroot Mineral Society, Montana

2nd Tek the Tektite – Axel Gray, Flatirons Mineral Club, Colorado

3rd Max the Mammoth – Everett Benetazzo – Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois, Illinois

Under 12 Group: Newsletter Name

1st Rockin' News - Gabe Murphy, Hellgate Mineral Society and the Bitterroot Mineral Society, Montana

2nd The Big Dig – Brady Booth, Flatirons Mineral Club, Colorado

3rd Earth Explorer Express - Axel Gray, Flatirons Mineral Club, Colorado

12 and Up Group: Mascot

1st Meg - the Megalodon - Sydney Thornton, North Mississippi Gem and Mineral Society, Mississippi

2nd Roger the Rockhound – Jonah Palumbo, Penobscot Mineral and Lapidary Club, Maine

3rd Terry the Trilobite - Charlotte Small, Flatirons Mineral Club, Colorado

12 and Up Group: Newsletter Name

1st Meg's Minutes - Sydney Thornton, North Mississippi Gem and Mineral Society, Mississippi

2nd The Tourmaline Schorl – Jonah Palumbo, Penobscot Mineral and Lapidary Club, Maine

A round of applause you to the amazing juniors from across the county that submitted awesome ideas!

About the image on this page

Optical Calcite Crystals also called Iceland Spar is a transparent variety of calcite. A ray of unpolarized light passing through the crystal is divided into two rays of perpendicular polarization directed at different angles. This double refraction causes objects seen through the crystal to appear doubled. Historically, the double-refraction property of this crystal was important to understanding the nature of light as a wave. It has been speculated that the sunstone mentioned in medieval Icelandic texts was Iceland Spar, and that Vikings used its light-polarizing property to tell the direction of the sun on cloudy days for navigation.

Image Credit: Lora Hall

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