North and Reitz high schools’ yearbooks and newspapers received accolades recently from two distinguished organizations. Both schools received awards from the University of Southern Indiana’s High School Media Day and from the Southern Illinois School Press Association (SISPA).
USI’s High School Media Day is sponsored by USI and the Scripps Howard Center for Media Studies and includes workshops and contests on the USI campus.
At the competition, North High School’s yearbook received a second place award for best coverage and a third place award for best student life section.
In addition, Reitz High School’s yearbook, Reflections, received the following awards:
•1st place – Best advertising section
•3rd place – Best yearbook coverage
•3rd place – Best community section
•3rd place – Best page design
The Mirror, Reitz’s school newspaper, also received honors from USI. The Mirror received a third place in Best of Show. Individual awards were submitted separately for judging in 12 different categories.
Works from the 2012-2013 Mirror that were entered into individual contests and received awards were:
•1st place Best feature Story – Caitlin Cannon
•1st place Best Sports photo – Baylee Miller
•1st place- Best editorial – Zoe Grabow
•2nd place Best feature story – Maddie Bogan
•2nd place Best News Photo – Lindsey Williams
•3rd place Best Sports photo – Maddy Harmon
•3rd place Best Overall Newspaper
Southern Illinois School Press Association Conference Awards
Both schools also competed in the Southern Illinois School Press Association Conference Awards. North’s yearbook received a second place in photography at the conference and Reitz’s newspaper, The Mirror, was awarded a Blue Banner which denotes overall excellence and is based on a judging of the entire newspaper. This is the fourth straight Blue Banner award for the newspaper and the fifth out of eight years. It also is the 10th award for John Wells, advisor at Reitz High School.
Works from the 2012-2013 Mirror that were entered into individual contests and received awards were:
· 2nd Place – Lauren Schellenberg for Sports Story – “Utilizing teamwork and fresh facesâ€
· 2nd Place – Josselinne Torres for Computer-Produced Graphics – “Don’t Text and Driveâ€
· 3rd Place – Haley Ruckman for Sports Story – “Wrestlers prepared to hit mats with tough pre-season scheduleâ€
· 3rd Place – Baylee Miller for Photography w/ Caption – “Wrestlingâ€
· Honorable Mention – Taylor Bogard for Sports Column – “The importance of ritual and superstitionsâ€
· Honorable Mention – Maddie Bogan for Humorous Column – “Senioritisâ€
· Honorable Mention – Maddie Bogan for News Story – “Students pursue early graduationâ€
· Honorable Mention – Jessica Lynch for News Story – “PTA clothing band gets a surprise giftâ€
· Honorable Mention – Chloe Hollen for Feature Story – “Animals in the science departmentâ€
· Honorable Mention – Katie Healy for Sports Story – “Football team makes it to regionalsâ€
In addition, the 2012 Reflections yearbook received a Golden Dozen award. This marks the seventh Golden Dozen award given to Reitz’s yearbook in the past eight years and the sixth in a row. Entries for the Golden Dozen award were sent from schools from Evansville to St. Louis and Paducah, Ky., to Springfield, Ill.
The Reflections received the following awards from the 2012 yearbook:
· 1st Place – Copywriting
· 1st Place – Advertising Section
· 1st Place – Overall Layout
· 2nd Place – Overall Coverage
· 3rd Place – Overall Graphics
· Honorable Mention – Cover Design
Work from Reitz’s 2013 yearbook, currently in production, was singled out for the following awards:
· 1st Place – Angela Merritt for Yearbook Sports Photography
· 2nd Place – Sarah TenBarge for Yearbook Feature Photography
· 3rd Place – Sports Layouts
The Southern Illinois School Press Association is sponsored by Southern Illinois University – Carbondale. Each year, for the past 63 years, the two organizations host the winter conference, offering yearbook and newspaper contests, workshops, and on-site competitions.
