Excellence in high school journalism was honored on May 22 as the Sacramento High School Journalism Network (SHSJN) hosted its 3rd Annual awards dinner.
SHSJN is a project of the California Scholastic Journalism Initiative, in collaboration with The Sacramento Bee and the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE). The program was started with generous funding from Mr. Rowland Rebele, a former publisher, First Amendment advocate, and philanthropist.
Students write stories for the Sac County Breeze newspaper, a regional high school newspaper project sponsored by SCOE, the SHSJN and The Sacramento Bee. The stories are filtered through a team of writing coaches. Professional journalists serve as mentors and support the students in the classroom. SHSJN also provides monitoring for the teachers, free curriculum materials, and access to scholastic journalism resources.
Sacramento Bee columnist Cathie Anderson served as the featured speaker. Former NEWS10 anchor Sharon Ito and former Sacramento Bee reporter Walter Yost served as writing coaches during the past school year and presented awards during the ceremony.
Two SCOE students received special recognition for their work. Twyquila Morris, from Gerber Jr./Sr. High School, earned first place for Best Column or Personal Opinion Writing. Matthew Rodriguez, from Elinor Lincoln Hickey Jr./Sr. High School, was awarded third place in the Best News Writing category.
Currently, 12 area schools participate in the Sacramento High School Journalism Network:
- C.K. McClatchy High School (Sacramento City U.S.D.)
- Davis High School (Davis Joint U.S.D.)
- Elinor Lincoln Hickey Jr./Sr. High School (SCOE)
- Foothill High School (Twin Rivers U.S.D.)
- Gerber Jr./Sr. High School (Sacramento County Office of Education)
- Hiram Johnson High School (Sacramento City U.S.D.)
- Inderkum High School (Natomas Unified SD)
- Laguna Creek High School (Elk Grove U.S.D.)
- Luther Burbank High School (Sacramento City U.S.D.)
- Rio Americano High School (San Juan U.S.D.)
- River City High School (Washington U.S.D.)
- Vista del Lago High School (Folsom Cordova U.S.D.)
2014 Award Winners
BEST NEWS WRITING
- First Place: Rena Eser and Amy Jiang (Davis H.S.)
- Second Place: Riley Donahue (Davis H.S.)
- Third Place: Matthew Rodriguez (Elinor Lincoln Hickey Jr./Sr. H.S.)
BEST FEATURE WRITING
- First Place: Davis H.S. Team
- Second Place: Natalia Maverakis (Vista del Lago H.S.)
- Third Place: Kimo Malakzay (River City H.S.)
BEST EDITORIAL WRITING
- First Place: Amelia Eversole (Vista del Lago H.S.)
- Second Place: Keiko Tsuboi (Vista del Lago H.S.)
- Third Place: Daniel Sunkari (Vista del Lago H.S.)
BEST COLUMN or PERSONAL OPINION WRITING
- First Place: Twyquila Morris (Gerber Jr./Sr. H.S.)
- Second Place: Nate Curtis (Davis H.S.)
BEST SPORTS WRITING
- First Place: Thomas Oide (Davis H.S.)
- Second Place: Natalie Silver (Davis H.S.)
- Third Place: Olivia Ogden (Vista del Lago H.S.)
BEST PHOTOGRAPHY
- First Place: Ema Pavlova (Foothill H.S.)
OVERALL NEWSPAPER EXCELLENCE
- First Place: The Hub (Davis H.S.)
- Second Place: The Vista Voice (Vista del Lago H.S.)
SPECIAL RECOGNITION
45th Anniversary of Tinker vs. Des Moines Scholarship
- Amy Jiang (Davis H.S.)
- Christina Parshin (River City H.S.)
- Aidan Stommel (River City H.S.)