WSS staffers place in 3 national writing, photography contests

WSS Staff|November 20, 2017

The National Scholastic Press Association recognized three West Side Story pieces at the JEA/NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention in Dallas on Nov. 18.

Broadcast Editor-in-Chief Samalya Thenuwara ’18 received second place in the Multimedia Feature Story of the Year contest for “Living life with Rett syndrome.”

News Editor and Photographer Alyson Kuennen ’18 received third place in the News Picture of the Year contest for this photo featured on wsspaper.com last November in “40 students leave class for sit-in protest.”

The 2016-2017 WSS staff received Honorable Mention in the Multimedia News Story of the Year contest for “Students lead anti-hate protest, work to end discrimination.” The staffers who worked on this piece include Cameron Cook ’17, Isabelle Robles ’17, Fenna Semken ’18, Caroline Young ’19 and Angela Zirbes ’18.

According to a press release from NSPA, competition was intense in all six categories of the 2017 NSPA Individual Awards with 3,500 entries competing. Judges selected 280 NSPA Individual Award finalists, representing eight percent of the entries. Of those finalists, 140 were announced as winners and presented with plaques indicating their top-five ranking. The winners represent only four percent of the total entries.

View complete lists of the winners here: Multimedia Story of the Year winners and Picture of the Year winners.