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.
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:
Infographic: “What’s the deal with Delta?” by Sachiko Goto
Multimedia Feature Story: “Call for control” by Ruba Ahmed-Abdelmutalab and Helen Zhang
Multimedia News Story: “Coloring the community” by Owen Aanestad and Maddy Smith
In-depth Sports Story: “Equal footing” by Heidi Du, Krisha Kapoor and Lily Prochaska
Staff Editorial: “Secluded” by Caroline Mascardo
Multimedia Sports Story: “Fueling the fight” by Owen Aanestad
Personality Profile: “Taking flight” by Zaira Ahmad
Social Justice Reporting: “Gender” by Zaira Ahmad, Ella De Young and Caroline Mascardo
In-depth News Story: “We are the BSU” by Ruba Ahmed-Abdelmutalab and Katherine Shoppa
Video News Show: “West High Weekly 9.10.21” by Alaina Greenlee, Camille Gretter and Mohana Sunkara
Interactive Graphic: “Gender Infograms” by Zaira Ahmad
Social Media Reporting: “WSS social media accounts” by WSS staff
Podcasting: “Nicole’s Headspace: ‘Snowdrop controversy” by Nicole Lee
Environmental Portrait: “We are the BSU” by Sachiko Goto
Feature Story: “Epidemic” by Maya Chu, Ella De Young and Krisha Kapoor
School News Story: “The division decision” by Ruba Ahmed-Abdelmutalab, Misha Canin and Hanah Kitamoto
Designer of the Year: Xiaoyi Zhu
Hawkeye Photographer of the Year: Owen Aanestad
Videographer of the Year: Alaina Greenlee
Second place winners:
Illustration or Art: “Find WSS” by Caroline Mascardo
Infographic: “Student Statistics” by Sachiko Goto
Ads: “Exclusively on wsspaper.com” by Misha Canin
Multimedia News Story: “Winter volunteering creates community” by Alaina Greenlee
In-depth Sports Story: “Breaking barriers” by Miguel Cohen Suarez and Krisha Kapoor
Multimedia Sports Story: “What it feels like: tearing your ACL” by Audrey Parrish and Laney Prelle
Social Media Promotion: “WSS social media accounts” by WSS staff
Newsmagazine Multiple Page Design: “We are the BSU” by Sachiko Goto
Social Justice Reporting: “We are the BSU” by Ruba Ahmed-Abdelmutalab and Katherine Shoppa
Video News Show: “West High Weekly 2.25.22” by Owen Aanestad, Alaina Greenlee and Camille Gretter
Interactive Graphic: “A deeper look into Afghanistan’s ongoing conflict” by Paige Albright
Photo Story: “Sudan’s fight for democracy” by Owen Aanestad
Third place winners:
Illustration or Art: “New Year, New West” by Zoey Guo
Infographic: “Drugs longterm effects on the brain” by Xiaoyi Zhu
Video Story: “Winter volunteering creates community” by Alaina Greenlee
Multimedia Feature Story: “I’m glad you stayed” by Isabella Tisdale
Multimedia News Story: “Sudan’s fight for democracy” by Owen Aanestad, Paige Albright and Mishka Mohamed Nour
Health/Science: “Post-vax facts” by Katherine Shoppa
Newsmagazine One Page Design: “Gender” by Kailey Gee
Staff Editorial: “We’ll Pass” by Rosemary Timmer-Hackert
Multimedia Sports Story: “Girls basketball 2021-2022” by Maddy Smith and Zoe Smith
Web Design: “Wsspaper.com” by WSS Staff
Personality Profile: “Aspire to inspire” by Miska Mohamed Nour
In-depth News Story: “Gender” by Zaira Ahmad, Ella De Young and Caroline Mascardo
Video News Show: “West High Weekly 11.19.21” by Alaina Greenlee, Camille Gretter and Mohana Sunkara
News Photo: “A young girl” by Owen Aanestad
Interactive Graphic: “Don’t overlook Omicron” by Vivian Polgreen
Sports Action Photo: “Boys and girls tennis dominates City” by Owen Aanestad
Environmental Portrait: “Emma Ingersoll-Weng” by Owen Aanestad
Photo Story: “Trojan Bolts place third at state meet” by Owen Aanestad
Reviews: “‘Nine Days’ is one of the greatest debut films of all time” by Jack Harris
Feature Story: “Language logistics” by Maya Chu, Kamakshee Kuchhal and Athena Wu
School News Story: “Budding ombuds” by Lilly Graham and Soomin Koh
Honorable mentions:
Illustration or Art: “The Radish” by Sachiko Goto
Illustration or Art: “Hallmark holidays” by Sila Duran
Infographic: “Shhh…” by Sila Duran
Video Story: “West introduces new hallway pass” by Owen Aanestad and Camille Gretter
Multimedia Feature Story: “Above and beyond” by Mishka Mohamed Nour
Multimedia Feature Story: “The sky’s the limit” by Alaina Greenlee and Isabella Tisdale
Multimedia News Story: “Students protest for BLM” by Sachiko Goto and Audrey Parrish
Sports Story: Game or Season Recap: “Trojan Bolts place third at state meet” by Hanah Kitamoto
Health/Science: “Don’t overlook Omicron” by Vivian Polgreen
Health/Science: “Battling burnout” by Lilly Graham and Jane Lam
Newsmagazine One Page Design: “Trigger warning” by Xiaoyi Zhu
Staff Editorial: “Trigger warning” by Helen Zhang
Staff Editorial: “Restructuring” by Maya Chu
Feature Photo: “Student Produced Innovative Theater” by Caroline Barker
Feature Photo: “Coloring the community” by Owen Aanestad
Sports Feature Photo: “Trojan Bolts place third at state meet” by Owen Aanestad
Multimedia Sports Story: “Top 10 sports moments of 2021” by Owen Aanestad
Multimedia Sports Story: “Trojans of all trades” by Zoe Smith
Newsmagazine Multiple Page Design: “Shhh…” by Sila Duran
Personality Profile: “Across the ocean” by Ruba Ahmed-Abdelmutalab and Ella De Young
Personality Profile: “Journey to West” by Zaira Ahmad and Katherine Shoppa
Social Justice Reporting: “The price to play” by Maya Chu, Heidi Du and Soomin Koh
In-depth News Story: “Call for control” by Ruba Ahmed-Abdelmutalab and Helen Zhang
Video News Show: “Weekly news wrap-up: Jan. 14” by Audrey Parrish, Vivian Polgreen and Helelia Wa Kalala
News Photo: “Sudan’s fight for democracy” by Owen Aanestad
Podcasting: “No cap recap: spring sports are back” by Owen Aanestad and Camille Gretter
Reviews: “Rainbow reading recs” by Rosemary Timmer-Hackert
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.