Fall 2018 National JEA/NSPA High School Journalism Convention – Chicago, Illinois
A group of Omaha South students in Chicago for the JEA/NSPA convention.
The annual JEA/NSPA Convention in Chicago last week (Nov. 1-4) had 6,366 attendees from 695 schools representing 45 states, Canada, England and China. Nineteen of these schools were from Nebraska, including Bellevue East, Fremont, Lexington, Hastings, Lincoln North Star, Lincoln Southwest, Marian, Mount Michael, Omaha Benson, Bryan, Burke, Central, North and South, Millard North, Millard South, Millard West, North Platte and Papillion-La Vista South.
The NSPA sponsors a Best of Show contest, allowing any school to enter that has advisers or students in attendance at the convention. Giant congratulations to members of the Omaha Bryan High School Orator staff, as they earned an 8th place finish in the Best of Show category for the Newspaper Tabloids with 16 or fewer pages and to members of the Lexington Minuteman Yearbook staff, as they earned a 9th place finish in the Best of Show category for Yearbooks with 232 or fewer pages. Full results of the Best of Show Contest from Chicago can be found here: http://studentpress.org/nspa/chicago-best-of-show-results/
The NSPA also sponsors a Picture of the Year, Story of the Year, and Design of the Year contest (among others). Individual works of NSPA members are submitted in June and then judged over the summer with finalists announced before the convention. In the Sports Reaction division of the Picture of the Year, Omaha Marian’s Audrey Yost earned a 1st Place finish. In the Yearbook Spread Design division, Millard West’s Annaliese Punt earned a 4th Place finish and in the Illustration division, Millard West’s Jack Ward earned an Honorable Mention.
The Millard West Catalyst was honored as a Pacemaker Finalist. This is one of the highest honors a scholastic publication can achieve. Congratulations to the staff and to Mr. Mark Hilburn, the adviser.
In the JEA Write Off Contest, there were 2,033 competitors. In the end, 431 students were recognized with Honorable Mention Awards, 239 were recognized with Excellent Awards and 141 students were honored with Superior Awards. Nebraska had 40 winners!
Lincoln Southwest High School
Haley Ulrich – Superior in YB Copy/Caption: Student Life
Emily Roberts – Honorable Mention in YB Copy/Caption: Academics
Marian High School
Emma Williams – Excellent in Literary Magazine Layout
Alida Farrens – Excellent in Literary Magazine Photography
Caroline Drew – Excellent in Graphic Design Infographics
Joey Carollo – Excellent in Portrait Photography
Taylor Sterba – Honorable Mention in Feature Writing
Lily Blake – Honorable Mention in Review Writing
Maria Piperis – Honorable Mention in Editorial Cartooning
Qwynn Watts – Honorable Mention in Graphic Design Photo Illustration
Daisy Owen – Honorable Mention in Sports Action Photography
Maya Reed – Honorable Mention in First Year Photography
Mount Michael Benedictine High School
Jacob Gathje – Superior in Sports Writing
Bokai “Kevin” Zhang – Superior in Editorial Cartooning
Cole Kalkowski – Superior in Newspaper Layout
Alex Schrier – Honorable Mention in Newspaper Editing
Kolton Koubsky – Honorable Mention Feature Writing
Millard North High School
Lucy Tu – Superior in Commentary Writing
Felicia Xiong – Excellent in Editorial Writing
Rachel Holt – Honorable Mention in Sports Writing
Kirsten Wandrey – Honorable Mention in Review Writing
Sireen Abayazid – Honorable Mention in YB Copy/Caption: Student Life
Millard South High School
Lindsey Assman – Excellent in Feature Writing
Millard West High School
Gabriel Paredes Reyes & Kaitlyn Willard – Superior in Broadcast Feature Story
Skyler Hoffner- Honorable Mention in YB Copy/Caption: Student Life
Bailey Christensen – Honorable Mention in Themed Photography
Delaney Aikins – Excellent in Portrait Photography
Lindsey Nelson – Honorable Mention in YB Copy/Caption: Sports
Omaha Benson High School
Johoro Hussein – Honorable Mention in YB Layout: Theme
Omaha Bryan High School
Adriana Martinez – Superior in Review Writing
Richard O’Connor – Superior in First Year Photography
Jayden Jacobs – Honorable Mention in Editorial Cartooning
Olivia Rickley – Excellent in YB Copy/Caption: Academics
Omaha Central High School
Molly Ashford – Superior in Review Writing
Ari Saltzman – Honorable Mention in Sports Writing
Emma Whaley – Honorable Mention in Commentary Writing
Dillon Galloway – Honorable Mention in Literary Magazine: Photography
Omaha North High Magnet
Kylie Hughes – Honorable Mention in Sports Writing
Nathaniel Smith – Honorable Mention in Portrait Photography
Papillion-La Vista South High School
Kala Sullivan – Excellent – Press Law & Ethics
Full Write Off results can be found here: http://jea.org/wp/blog/2018/11/03/fall-2018-write-offs-results/?fbclid=IwAR1lkqapJO8OZACKqQWuwiFpL-wKG2pjnZKC_rP9R5whdfM1iEyNyCZiUVM
North Platte adviser Lori Larson was recognized as a Rising Star at the JEA/NSPA Adviser Awards Luncheon in Chicago. Congratulations!
