Excellence in high school journalism was honored on May 19 as the Sacramento High School Journalism Network (SHSJN) hosted its 5th 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 former newspaper publisher Rowland "Reb" Rebele, a 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.
Students and advisors were welcomed by Steve O'Donoghue, California Scholastic Journalism Initiative director, and heard from featured speaker Cheryl Dell, Sacramento Bee president and publisher. Presenting awards were Sharon Ito, Communications and Public Affairs Manager at Sacramento State's College of Continuing Education, and Sac State journalism instructor Walt Yost. Ito, former KXTX anchor, and Yost, former Sacramento Bee reporter, serve as Breeze writing coaches. Students of the Leo A. Palmiter Jr./Sr. High School Culinary Café catered the dinner, which was held on their campus.
Sacramento High School Journalism Network Participants
- 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 (Sacramento County Office of Education)
- Florin High School (Elk Grove U.S.D.)
- 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.)
- John F. Kennedy High School (Sacramento City U.S.D.)
- Kit Carson International Baccalaureate Candidate School (Sacramento City U.S.D.)
- Laguna Creek High School (Elk Grove U.S.D.)
- Rio Americano High School (San Juan U.S.D.)
- River City High School (Washington U.S.D.)
2016 Award Winners
Journalist of the Year
- 2016 Journalist of the Year
Outstanding Student Newspaper Editors
- Nathan Koh & Denna Changizi (Davis H.S.)
- Kat McDermott (Foothill H.S.)
- Wesley Saeteurn (Gerber Jr./Sr. H.S.)
- Laura Asatryan (River City H.S.)
Special Recognition Student Newspaper Editors
- Shradha Singh (McClatchy H.S.)
- Jessica Love (Florin H.S.)
- Kristin Lee (Hiram Johnson H.S.)
Best News Writing
- Laura Asatryan (River City High School)—1st Place
- Anna Gao (Davis H.S.)—2nd Place
- Kat McDermott (Foothill H.S.)—3rd Place
Best Feature Writing
- Cade Isenhower (C.K. McClatchy H.S.)—1st Place
- Saba Khan (River City H.S.)—2nd Place
- Kat McDermott (Foothill H.S.), Rachael Grand & Camryn Dadey (Laguna Creek H.S.)—3rd Place TIE
Best Sports Writing
- Faisal Khan (River City H.S.)—1st Place
- Ronaldo Gomez (Florin H.S.)—2nd Place
- Tia Luna (Gerber Jr./Sr. H.S.)—3rd Place
Best Editorial Writing
- Sandhy Bhaskar (Rio Americano H.S.)—1st Place
- Lae'liana Brooks (Gerber Jr./Sr. H.S.)—2nd Place
- Angel Phong (Florin H.S.)—3rd Place
Best Column/Op-Ed Writing
- Wesley rn (Gerber Jr./Sr. H.S.)—1st Place
- Laura Asatryan (River City H.S.)—2nd Place
- Ty Musial (Kit Carson IB)—3rd Place
Best Photography
- Mike Noga (Foothill H.S.)—1st Place
- Ali Watkins (Foothill H.S.)—2nd Place
- Wesley rn (Gerber Jr./Sr. H.S.)—3rd Place
Best Cartoon/Graphic
- Nadia Long (Foothill H.S.)—1st Place Skills USA T-Shirt Design
- Alexia Burt (Laguna Creek H.S.)—2nd Place
- Vadim Lubko (Foothill H.S.)—3rd Place Skills USA Pin Design
Design & Layout
- Foothill H.S.
- Davis H.S.