The National Scholastic Press Association presented Best of Show awards at the Fall National High School Journalism Convention awards ceremony Nov. 15 in Nashville. The October issue of West Side Story received sixth place and Wsspaper.com received seventh place website for schools with a student population <1800. Seniors Shanza Sami and Henry Timmer-Hackert are the print editors-in-chief and Evelyn Kraber is the online editor-in-chief.
Sixteen West journalists attended the national convention, joining over 5,000 journalism students from eight countries for NSPA’s convention.
The 2024-25 WSS staff was also recognized as a 2025 Newsmagazine Pacemaker finalist and received 11 individual awards, listed below:
- Anna Greenlee ’26 was named second place Multimedia Journalist of the Year and received honorable mention Informational Graphic for “What next?”
- Seniors Minna Abdalla and Evelyn Kraber received second place Multimedia Sports for “How women’s wrestling found a home in Iowa City.”
- Emma Lai ’28 received second place Podcast for “Our journey to Worlds: from Iowa City to Houston.”
- Colin Wehrle ’27 received third place Feature Photo for “Sky high in a suit and tie.”
- Lydia Cruce ’27 and Shanza Sami ’26 received fourth place Feature Story for “Music on the mind.” Cruce also received fourth place Profile for “Starboy.”
- The WSS staff received fourth place Social Media Promotion and honorable mention Social Media Reporting.
- Yeju Seol ’26 received fifth place Comic Strip/Panel for “Haunting headlines.”
- Tyler Shane ’26 received honorable mention Sports Feature Photo contest for “State champion celebration.”
