The Iowa High School Press Association (IHSPA) named Simran Sarin ’17 as Iowa’s Designer of the Year in their annual contest. Sarin is the West Side Story Design Co-Editor. You can view her design portfolio at simplygestalt.wordpress.com. This is the second year in a row that a WSS Design Editor won this award, with 2015 graduate Jaycie Weathers winning last year.

Additionally, IHSPA awarded the West Side Story staff 2nd place News Team of the Year for large schools in the state. Points for the News Team of the Year are awarded to schools for placing in 29 individual categories of IHSPA’s spring journalism contest, and the points are tallied to identify winners. The top three large-school News Teams in the state are as follows:

• 1st place: Iowa City High School with 136 points
• 2nd place: Iowa City West High School with 126 points
• 3rd place: Johnston High School with 76 points

The West Side Story staff received 1st place in the state for the following:

• Editorial Cartoon: “Charlie Hebdo” by Braedyn Dochterman ’17.
• Feature Story: “Breaking the binary” by sophomores Junhee Lee and Prateek Raikwar.
• Infographic: “Dance marathon” by Wingel Xue ’18.
• Multimedia News Story: “Crisis reveals character” by Christina Dai ’17, Nina Elkadi ’18, Ellie Gretter ’18 and Fenna Semken ’18.
• News Photo: “Students dance FTK” by Sarah Longmire ’17.
• Design (Multiple Pages): “What Next?” by Simran Sarin ’17.
• Photo Story: “Bernie Sanders” by Sarah Longmire ’17.
• Staff Editorial: “Dear Students” by Cameron Cook ’17.

The West Side Story staff received 2nd place in the state for the following:

• Column: “Walk the border” by Junhee Lee ’18.
• Illustration/Art: “Dr. Jerry Arganbright” by Braedyn Dochterman ’17.
• Multimedia News Story: “Clinton draws young voters at Coralville event” by Allie Biscupski ’16.
• Design (One Page): “Fading faith” by Leah Dusterhoft ’17.
• News Photo: “Students attend Bernie rally” by Sarah Longmire ’17.
• News Story: “Hiding behind the screen” by Nina Elkadi ’18.
• Staff Editorial: “A new angle for security” by Eleanor Ho ’17.
• Video Story: “Iowa Caucuses” by Cameron Cook ’17 and Nina Elkadi ’18.
• Social Media Coverage: WSS staff and Social Media Editor Barbara Badovinac ’16.
• Website Design: WSS staff and Web Managing Editor Allie Biscupski ’16 and Web Programmers Schyler Davis ’16, Jacob Nishimura ’16 and David Wu ’16.

The West Side Story staff received 3rd place in the state for the following:

• In-depth News Story: “Safe and sound” by Nina Elkadi ’18.
• Infographic: “Iowa and the election” by Maddie Moriyama ’18.
• News Story: “Crisis reveals character” by Christina Dai ’17 and Nina Elkadi ’18.
• Multimedia News Story: “Bernie rally features celebrities and musical guests” by Nina Elkadi ’18 and Isabelle Robles ’17.
• Sports Story: “Making the cut” by Aaron Carter ’16.

The West Side Story staff received Honorable Mention for the following:

• Multimedia Feature Story: “Breaking the binary” by Junhee Lee ’18 and Prateek Raikwar ’18.
• Multimedia Sports Story: “State wrestling one-stop shop” by Leah Dusterhoft ’17.
• Design (One Page): “Missed connections” by Simran Sarin ’17.
• Design (Multiple Pages): “Think before you speak” by Ryo Ohashi ’17.
• Sports Photo: “Powderpuff” by Sarah Longmire ’17.

For information on past West Side Story awards, go to wsspaper.com/awards.