The Iowa High School Press Association recognized both the Trojan Epic yearbook and West Side Story staffs at its state journalism conference Oct. 21. The West Side Story staff was named a 2021 All-Iowa News Team of the Year, and the 2021 Trojan Epic was named second place Yearbook of the Year.

IHSPA judges selected the Yearbook and News Teams of the Year from a field of finalist schools, determined from the schools with the highest number of points accumulated during IHSPA’s various journalism contests.

In 2017, IHSPA introduced the All-Iowa awards, and West has been recognized every year since.

The 2020-2021 Trojan Epic staff also recognized with these awards from the 2021 yearbook:

• 2021 First Place Reader Services (Index): Zohrae McLaskey ’22, Cameron Reimers ’22, Rachel Swack ’23, Nicole Trout ’21
• 2021 First Place Theme for “Like No Other”: Trojan Epic staff
• 2021 First Place Total Package for “Into the Woods”: Owen Aanestad ’22, Cameron Reimers ’22
• 2021 Second Place Design/January-June Events for “SPIT”: Cameron Reimers ’22
• 2021 Second Place Design/Mugs for Seniors: Maddy Smith ’22
• 2021 Second Place Personality Profile for “In loving memory of Dylan Salge”: Hanah Kitamoto ’22
• 2021 Second Place Sports Feature Photo/Caption for “Fired up”: Owen Aanestad ’22
• 2021 Second Place Sports Story for “History in the making”: Tess DeGrazia ’23, Hanah Kitamoto ’22, Maddy Smith ’22
• 2021 Third Place Cover: Cameron Reimers ’22
• 2021 Third Place Design/Opening-Closing or Division Spread for “Synergy like no other”: Alyssa Skala ’21, Nicole Trout ’21
• 2021 Third Place Photo Illustration for the cover: Cameron Reimers ’22
• 2021 Third Place: Sports Action Photo/Caption for “Audrey Koch”: Alyssa Skala ’21
• 2021 Honorable Mention: Feature Photo for “Selling the cow”: Owen Aanestad ’22
• 2021 Honorable Mention: Design/Mugs for Sophomores: Katherine Shoppa ’23 and Melissa Uc ’23
• 2021 Honorable Mention: Design/Mugs for Sophomore Tribute: Sarah Callanan ’21, Hanah Kitamoto ’22, Cameron Reimers ’22, Willow Oleson ’23, Melissa Uc ’23
• 2021 Honorable Mention: Feature Photo for “Filling the streets”: Caroline Barker ’22
• 2021 Honorable Mention: Writing/Student Life out-of-school-related for “Year in review”: Kailey Gee ’22, Maggie Huang ’21, Hanah Kitamoto ’22, Alyssa Skala ’21
• 2021 Honorable Mention: Sports Feature Photo for “Accomplishing Goals”: Owen Aanestad ’22