All 18 students on the journalism team will advance to the state competition on April 26 in 17 categories, after competing at sectionals on April 6.
The team took first place with 90 points, the most points they have ever earned, and 27 points more than the runners-up.
But with the announcement occurring six days after the competition, anxiety surrounding the results was heightened.
“I was extremely nervous to get my results, since I was not in the same room where the results were being announced,” junior Reyez Hangsleben said. “It has boosted my confidence in my photography skills.”
With such an incredible score, adviser Amanda Thrun was elated.
“I had an expectation that we were going to perform as well as we did, but I didn’t say anything before the ceremony as I didn’t want to get the students’ hopes up,” Mrs. Thrun said. “I am beyond thrilled with how we did.”
Despite their high placement, most of the students were not initially confident in their entries.
“I spent the time [before my category was announced] rethinking how difficult my prompts were and going over all the mistakes I thought I made,” senior Georgia Gaughan said. “After I realized I’d won news design, I understood that all my hard work from the weeks before had been worth it, and all my self-doubt was just stuff I made up in my head.”
Listed below are the categories and placements.
Advertisement: second place, Sami McKenney
Copy Editing: first place, Julia Towell
Editorial Cartooning: second place, Sydney Chong
Editorial Writing: fourth place, Sami McKenney
Feature Writing: third place, Georgia Gaughan
Headline Writing: second place, Sydney Andrews
Infographics: second place, Veda Kommineni
News Writing: first place, Pera Onal
Newspaper Design: first place, Georgia Gaughan
Photo Storytelling: first place, Reyez Hangsleben
Radio News: third place, Zach Cohn
Review Writing: third place, Owen Anderson
Sports Writing: first place, Zach Kennett
TV News: third place, Atticus Ball, Max Thrun and Tennyson Rose
Yearbook Caption Writing: second place, Logan Szymanski
Yearbook Copy Writing: second place, Logan Szymanski
Yearbook Spread Layout: second place, Veda Kommineni
Yearbook Theme Development: first place, Colleen Moore and Izzy Robinson
