Student journalists from Torrey Pines and Westview high schools of San Diego came away with more than inspiration and new tools at last week’s National High School Journalism Convention at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront.
They also took home trophies for Best of Show.
Competing with newspapers of attending schools nationwide, The Falconer (Torrey Pines) and The Nexus (Westview) were judged best in the categories Newspaper Broadsheet 17 or More Pages and Newspaper Broadsheet 13-16 Pages, respectively, at the three-day spring convention ending Saturday.
The winners were announced Saturday afternoon by Diana Mitsu Klos, executive director of the National Scholastic Press Association, amid cheers, chants and flag-waving by at least one Missouri school.
In addition, MavLife of La Costa Canyon High School in Carlsbad and Crusader of Bonita Vista High School in Chula Vista were second and fourth, respectively, in the Newspaper Broadsheet 13-16 Pages category.
Also winning Best of Show was the Coronado Middle School’s Surfer for top junior high yearbook.
Third place in Junior High Newspaper went to Eagle Pride of St. John the Evangelist School in Encinitas, and eighth place in Newspaper Special Edition went to another Encinitas school — The Mustang of San Dieguito Academy. The Mustang also took sixth in Newspaper Tabloid for The Mustang.
Eighth-place awards went to Poway High School’s Odyssey yearbook and Mount Carmel High School’s The Sun for Publication Website Large School.
Pacemaker awards — the most prestigious honor in scholastic journalism — also were announced in the magazine, online and yearbook categories. (Pacemakers for student newspapers are awarded at the fall convention.)
A complete list of Best of Show honorees is posted here. All 46 Pacemaker award winners are listed here.
Mitsu Klos also leads the sister Associated Collegiate Press, whose convention was held last month in San Diego. She said a little more than 3,000 people attended the high school convention, including 400-500 faculty advisers.
Among the scheduled speakers at the Hilton Bayfront were former San Diego broadcast newswoman Laura Castañeda (now at San Diego City College), CBS News 8’s Larry Himmel, U-T San Diego columnist Kevin Acee, Rory Devine of NBC 7 San Diego, Erik Anderson of KPBS, Scott Lewis of Voice of San Diego and Jeff Light, editor of U-T San Diego.
After the awards ceremony, some students took in the Padres-Tigers game at Petco Park, where a student from Homestead Senior High School in Florida won a drawing to throw the first pitch.
