PaliHi Journalists Win National Awards

Three staff members on the Palisades Charter High School newspaper’James Bourne, Katy Pool and Fiona Hannigan’won top ratings at a national journalism convention in St. Louis on November 13-16. More than 5,000 students attended the event, including 12 from PaliHi who were accompanied by their advisor, Mary Capelli. As one of the current Tideline editors-in-chief, Bourne won a superior award and was the highest-ranked individual in copyediting, outpacing several hundred competitors. In order to win that distinction, Bourne took a 50-question multiple-choice AP-style test, wrote three captions for three different photos, and wrote headlines for three unrelated stories. Although dictionaries, journalism stylebooks and electronic spellcheckers were permitted under contest rules and used by competitors, Bourne, who is a senior and has been on the Tideline staff for three years, didn’t use them. After graduation, he plans to eventually gain a master’s in journalism, with an ultimate goal of becoming a foreign correspondent. For the news, editorial and feature-writing contests, students attended a mock ‘press-conference’ on a given topic, took notes, and then had just one hour to write an article. Tideline entertainment editor Pool, a junior who began journalism this year, received a superior for her review on the City Museum in St. Louis. Tideline news editor Hannigan, a senior, won an excellent in feature writing for her story on an organization called the Backstoppers that works with spouses and children of fireman, police and other officers killed in the line of duty. Capelli was pleased that three of her students were honored, noting that ‘It’s competitive and they didn’t give a lot of awards at the conference.’ In addition to competing, students listened to keynote speakers and attended seminars on topics ranging from interview techniques and editorial policies to photography and layout. ‘The convention was a rewarding experience, and it was amazing to see all the different publications and student journalists from all over the country,’ said Hannigan, who plans to pursue journalism in college. ‘I think it is important to get a perspective on journalism and the different views on it, especially through expert opinions. Regardless of how many awards we win, if any, these conventions are always worthwhile.’ Earlier this fall, the Tideline received a Gold Medalist Award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association for the 2007-2008 school year. The annual competition, which began at Columbia University in 1925, evaluates student-edited newspapers and magazines in order to recognize excellence in student media. Judged by out-of-state high school journalism teachers from award-winning programs as well as college journalism professors, the Tideline received 936 out of a possible 1,000 points and scored 224 points higher than the previous year, when it received a bronze medal. ‘This competition features the elite high schools in the nation,’ said Capelli, who is in her fourth year as advisor. ‘The members of the Tideline worked hard to boost their previous ranking and analyzed other student newspapers in order to find ways to improve.’ Judging was based on four categories: Tideline writers received 290 points out of a possible 300 for coverage and 366 points out of 400 in writing and editing. The staff earned 183 out of 200 in graphic presentation and 97 out of 100 in business operations. In addition to praising the newspaper, CSPA judges also offered several areas for improvement including decreasing editorializing in news coverage, making layout styles more consistent and identifying all people in photos. The Tideline, which published 20 times a year, also won a Crown award, given only to papers that are economically sustainable. ‘We receive $2,500 from the booster club and come up with the other $7,000 through advertising,’ said Capelli, who noted that the students who were in charge of the paper’s advertising/business last year are now in business school at USC. The 2007-2008 editors-in-chief, Megan Greene and Ross Lipschultz, are attending Northwestern. ‘We scour the halls for the best talent,’ Capelli said.