4 Conway students awarded for efforts

Any time a student returns from a school-based competition toting a plaque or an award, it evokes a sense of pride for the student and the school.

However, when the competition has the word "national" in the title, it's a different story.

Four student journalists from Conway High School West recently returned to school after receiving honorable mentions in the National Scholastic Press Association Convention held in St. Louis, Mo.

According to Jeani Johnson, journalism teacher, the competition was a little more difficult than the regional and state levels, as 70 percent of the students walked away with nothing.

"We had a winner in one category where only nine people from across the country received an award, so it's tough to win and I'm so proud of them," Johnson said Tuesday.

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Those receiving honorable mentions were junior Clay Johnson for yearbook sports copy and caption writing; senior Hanna Regan for photo story; senior Sarah Steele for newspaper commentary; and senior Lia York for advertising.

The majority of the students competed in a write-off, Johnson said, in which students listened to a 20-minute presentation and then had a short amount of time to turn that information into a story.

Steele, who competed in commentary writing, said it was hard to meet the competition guidelines and write the best article at the same time. However, she said the pressure was not as intense as it could have been.

"To some degree I was nervous, but I've competed at nationals before and I got first place at the state convention," Steele said. "And in the end I just decided that winning wasn't a big deal but writing a good story was, so I honestly wasn't as stressed as I usually get."

The topic Steele and her competitors were assigned was seat belt safety and she said she knew there would be a fine line when it came to avoiding clichs in her writing.

Although she said she was surprised by her honorable mention, Steele said she will continue to improve upon her writing and perhaps pursue it after graduation.

York, who took on the advertising category in the national competition, said the best part about the event was learning from her peers across the country.

"It was great meeting all the news people and seeing how they worked," York said. "We had a 20-minute speech before we began and we had to ask questions about what they wanted on our ads and it was really nice hearing what the other students wanted to say and learning from them."

According to York, she and her peers set to work designing an ad for a coffee shop that would attract more business from local students. She said she had fun working on the project and added she would be interested in designing ads for her own school's newspaper.

From sports writing to editorials to hard news articles, these students had to work fast and meet deadlines, mirroring the work of journalists around the world. Johnson said this was only one of the perks of the national competition.

"To me the national competition serves two purposes for the kids it gives them a real-world experience as if they were working for a professional newspaper, public relations firm or advertising agency, but it also serves as motivation," Johnson said. "When they come home after winning they are able to say, 'Hey, I just competed against everyone in the nation and I'm from Arkansas and I won.'"

Although these four students took away honorable mentions from the competition, Johnson said every single student who participated took away something just as important critique sheets.

"Another good thing is that the judges give them critique sheets back so they can know how to improve upon their writing," Johnson said. "For instance we had someone who didn't follow the inverted pyramid and another writer who kept using courtesy titles."

Thanks to the students they met and advice from the judges, Johnson said the Conway students' participation at the national level is already paying off.

"They already have improved from this competition," Johnson said. "The newspaper staff came back and had a huge thought-provoking staff meeting and discussed what they saw at nationals, where they want to go with the paper this year and how they were going to get there."

Students who attended the national competition include Katiedra Body, Daniel Bullock, Angel Burrow, Cheyenne Gerdes, Evan Grove, Jordan Hearn, Josh Harrell, Johnson, Blake Jones, Mollie Long, Kelsey Nipper, Chelsea Pearson, Regan, Val Selles, Steele, Laralyn Thomas, Kirby Westmoreland and York.

(Staff writer Jessica Bauer can be reached by e-mail at jessica.bauer@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1236. To comment on this and other stories in the Log Cabin, log on to www.thecabin.net. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)