This past weekend, some of our staff attended the JEA/NSPA National Convention in Seattle. During the convention, we came back with many awards including fourth place for Best of Show for the newspaper, 10th for special section and second for website. Editor-in-chief Sarah Darby also was named a JEA runner-up for National Journalist of the Year.

Sarah speaking:

For the first time ever, our school placed in every Best of Show category it entered. In addition to the awards the newspaper won, the yearbook also placed fourth in its category. The Best of Show competition judges every publication entered at that specific convention. It is exciting to know that out of the hundreds of schools in attendance at the Seattle convention, our publications stood out. At the convention, we also officially received a plague for being an Online Pacemaker Finalist. Although our website did not win a Pacemaker at the convention, I was still ecstatic to be a finalist in only the second year of the website’s existence. Additionally, this weekend I found out I was named a runner-up for National High School Journalist of the Year. A total of 37 state winners competed in the national competition and I was one of six runner-ups. One additional student journalist was named the overall winner. Opportunities like the Seattle convention are constant reminders to me of how much I have been able to experience because of journalism. Journalism has truly defined my high school experience and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Jill speaking:

I am so excited and proud of our staff for all of their hard work this year. It is exciting to watch it pay off, especially after last convention’s results where we didn’t place in nearly as many categories. I am also really happy that we placed at all in special section because that was kind of an experiment for our staff as we had never done anything like that before. It’s funny that we were able to figure out what category our newspaper should be in (tabloid) and that we were successful in that category after not placing last convention in newsmagazine. Sarah being a runner-up recipient makes me so proud of her, even though I already knew she would get something. She is definitely the most deserving high school journalist I know. Congratulations to our staff for all of their hard work this year. Even though we are on our last issue, I know that the returning staff will make next year’s newspaper something they can continue to be proud of.

Lesson of the week:

1. Hard work always pays off.

Lesson number 30 of being an editor-in-chief: Check.