The Iowa High School Press Association awarded five “Best of the Year” trophies this week, with four of them coming to West High. IHSPA named Alaina Greenlee ’23 Videographer of the Year, Kailey Gee ’22 Journalist of the Year, Xiaoyi Zhu ’22 Designer of the Year and Owen Aanestad ’22 Hawkeye Photographer of the Year.

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IHSPA named Alaina Greenlee ’23 Videographer of the Year, Kailey Gee ’22 Journalist of the Year, Xiaoyi Zhu ’22 Designer of the Year and Owen Aanestad ’22 Hawkeye Photographer of the Year — seen here posing with their trophies and Principal Mitch Gross.

IHSPA also named the WSS staff a 2022 News Team of the Year finalist. IHSPA determines finalists by choosing the schools with the highest number of individual award winners from its annual writing, photography, design and online contests. The WSS staff won a total of 80 individual awards, for a total of 284 points — the most points of any school in the state. IHSPA will announce News Team of the Year winners at its annual state conference in October.

First place winners:

1. Infographic: “What’s the deal with Delta?” by Sachiko Goto
2. Multimedia Feature Story: “Call for control” by Ruba Ahmed-Abdelmutalab and Helen Zhang
3. Multimedia News Story: “Coloring the community” by Owen Aanestad and Maddy Smith
4. In-depth Sports Story: “Equal footing” by Heidi Du, Krisha Kapoor and Lily Prochaska 
5. Staff Editorial: “Secluded” by Caroline Mascardo
6. Multimedia Sports Story: “Fueling the fight” by Owen Aanestad
7. Personality Profile: “Taking flight” by Zaira Ahmad
8. Social Justice Reporting: “Gender” by Zaira Ahmad, Ella De Young and Caroline Mascardo
9. In-depth News Story: “We are the BSU” by Ruba Ahmed-Abdelmutalab and Katherine Shoppa
10. Video News Show: “West High Weekly 9.10.21” by Alaina Greenlee, Camille Gretter and Mohana Sunkara
11. Interactive Graphic: “Gender Infograms” by Zaira Ahmad
12. Social Media Reporting: “WSS social media accounts” by WSS staff
13. Podcasting: “Nicole’s Headspace: ‘Snowdrop controversy” by Nicole Lee
14. Environmental Portrait: “We are the BSU” by Sachiko Goto
15. Feature Story: “Epidemic” by Maya Chu, Ella De Young and Krisha Kapoor
16. School News Story: “The division decision” by Ruba Ahmed-Abdelmutalab, Misha Canin and Hanah Kitamoto
17. Designer of the Year: Xiaoyi Zhu
18. Hawkeye Photographer of the Year: Owen Aanestad
19. Videographer of the Year: Alaina Greenlee

Second place winners:

1. Illustration or Art: “Find WSS” by Caroline Mascardo
2. Infographic: “Student Statistics” by Sachiko Goto
3. Ads: “Exclusively on wsspaper.com” by Misha Canin
4. Multimedia News Story: “Winter volunteering creates community” by Alaina Greenlee
5. In-depth Sports Story: “Breaking barriers” by Miguel Cohen Suarez and Krisha Kapoor
6. Multimedia Sports Story: “What it feels like: tearing your ACL” by Audrey Parrish and Laney Prelle
7. Social Media Promotion: “WSS social media accounts” by WSS staff
8. Newsmagazine Multiple Page Design: “We are the BSU” by Sachiko Goto
9. Social Justice Reporting: “We are the BSU” by Ruba Ahmed-Abdelmutalab and Katherine Shoppa
10. Video News Show: “West High Weekly 2.25.22” by Owen Aanestad, Alaina Greenlee and Camille Gretter
11. Interactive Graphic: “A deeper look into Afghanistan’s ongoing conflict” by Paige Albright
12. Photo Story: “Sudan’s fight for democracy” by Owen Aanestad

Third place winners:

1. Illustration or Art: “New Year, New West” by Zoey Guo
2. Infographic: “Drugs longterm effects on the brain” by Xiaoyi Zhu
3. Video Story: “Winter volunteering creates community” by Alaina Greenlee
4. Multimedia Feature Story: “I’m glad you stayed” by Isabella Tisdale
5. Multimedia News Story: “Sudan’s fight for democracy” by Owen Aanestad, Paige Albright and Mishka Mohamed Nour
6. Health/Science: “Post-vax facts” by Katherine Shoppa
7. Newsmagazine One Page Design: “Gender” by Kailey Gee
8. Staff Editorial: “We’ll Pass” by Rosemary Timmer-Hackert
9. Multimedia Sports Story: “Girls basketball 2021-2022” by Maddy Smith and Zoe Smith
10. Web Design: “Wsspaper.com” by WSS Staff
11. Personality Profile: “Aspire to inspire” by Miska Mohamed Nour
12. In-depth News Story: “Gender” by Zaira Ahmad, Ella De Young and Caroline Mascardo
13. Video News Show: “West High Weekly 11.19.21” by Alaina Greenlee, Camille Gretter and Mohana Sunkara
14. News Photo: “A young girl” by Owen Aanestad
15. Interactive Graphic: “Don’t overlook Omicron” by Vivian Polgreen
16. Sports Action Photo: “Boys and girls tennis dominates City” by Owen Aanestad
17. Environmental Portrait: “Emma Ingersoll-Weng” by Owen Aanestad
18. Photo Story: “Trojan Bolts place third at state meet” by Owen Aanestad
19. Reviews: “‘Nine Days’ is one of the greatest debut films of all time” by Jack Harris
20. Feature Story: “Language logistics” by Maya Chu, Kamakshee Kuchhal and Athena Wu
21. School News Story: “Budding ombuds” by Lilly Graham and Soomin Koh

Honorable mentions:

1. Illustration or Art: “The Radish” by Sachiko Goto
2. Illustration or Art: “Hallmark holidays” by Sila Duran
3. Infographic: “Shhh…” by Sila Duran
4. Video Story: “West introduces new hallway pass” by Owen Aanestad and Camille Gretter
5. Multimedia Feature Story: “Above and beyond” by Mishka Mohamed Nour
6. Multimedia Feature Story: “The sky’s the limit” by Alaina Greenlee and Isabella Tisdale
7. Multimedia News Story: “Students protest for BLM” by Sachiko Goto and Audrey Parrish
8. Sports Story: Game or Season Recap: “Trojan Bolts place third at state meet” by Hanah Kitamoto
9. Health/Science: “Don’t overlook Omicron” by Vivian Polgreen
10. Health/Science: “Battling burnout” by Lilly Graham and Jane Lam
11. Newsmagazine One Page Design: “Trigger warning” by Xiaoyi Zhu
12. Staff Editorial: “Trigger warning” by Helen Zhang
13. Staff Editorial: “Restructuring” by Maya Chu
14. Feature Photo: “Student Produced Innovative Theater” by Caroline Barker
15. Feature Photo: “Coloring the community” by Owen Aanestad
16. Sports Feature Photo: “Trojan Bolts place third at state meet” by Owen Aanestad
17. Multimedia Sports Story: “Top 10 sports moments of 2021” by Owen Aanestad
18. Multimedia Sports Story: “Trojans of all trades” by Zoe Smith
19. Newsmagazine Multiple Page Design: “Shhh…” by Sila Duran
20. Personality Profile: “Across the ocean” by Ruba Ahmed-Abdelmutalab and Ella De Young
21. Personality Profile: “Journey to West” by Zaira Ahmad and Katherine Shoppa
22. Social Justice Reporting: “The price to play” by Maya Chu, Heidi Du and Soomin Koh
23. In-depth News Story: “Call for control” by Ruba Ahmed-Abdelmutalab and Helen Zhang
24. Video News Show: “Weekly news wrap-up: Jan. 14” by Audrey Parrish, Vivian Polgreen and Helelia Wa Kalala
25. News Photo: “Sudan’s fight for democracy” by Owen Aanestad
26. Podcasting: “No cap recap: spring sports are back” by Owen Aanestad and Camille Gretter
27. Reviews: “Rainbow reading recs” by Rosemary Timmer-Hackert
28. Entertainment: “New year, new West” by Alaina Greenlee, Ginger McCartney and Sam Rosenthal

IHSPA also identified Zaira Ahmad, Will Cheng, Wesal Haroun and Zoe Smith as four of Iowa’s Top 10 Emerging Journalists, a program which seeks to acknowledge emerging talent in newspaper, yearbook and digital media students. These students also receive a $100 scholarship toward attending the 2022 Summer Journalism Workshops for high school students through the University of Iowa.

IHSPA named Hanah Kitamoto and Caroline Mascardo as IHSPA Scholars, an academic honor for the state’s top journalism students.