The International Honorary Society for High School Journalists was founded at the University of Iowa, April 10, 1926, as a non-secret honorary high school society. It was organized with the end in view of recognizing and rewarding ability and achievement in writing and other phases of journalistic work in the high school.   Quill and Scroll numbers over one thousand chapters. These are located in every State of the Union, in Hawaii, England, China, British Honduras and Alaska. Fifteen thousand young journalists from schools which are outstanding in the quality of their publication work, wear the badge of the society.

The purpose of Quill and Scroll - is to instill in students the ideal of scholarship; to advance the standards of the profession of journalism by developing better journalists and by inculcating a higher code of ethics; to promote exact and dispassionate thinking, clear and forceful writing.
Active members shall be chosen from those students enrolled in high school who at the time of their election meet the following requirements:

1. They must be of at least junior or senior classification.

2. They must be in the upper third of their class in general scholastic standing at the time of their     election.

3. They must have done superior work in writing, editing, or in business management.

4. They must be recommended by the supervisor or by the committee governing publications.

5. They must be approved by the national secretary-treasurer of the society.