Adviser Update Fall 2013 | Page 25

NFPW National Federation of Press Women 2012 HS Journalism Contest 13 states represented T MAGENTA CYAN BLACK P01.V52.I4 News story First: Eliza Llewellyn, Staples HS, Westport, Conn., “Legacies: Investigating a College Application Controversy” Second: Megan Lucas, Allen HS, Parker, Texas, “From Russia With Love … No More” Third: Emma Stancey and Eloise Fischer-Fortney, Naperville North HS, Naperville, Ill., “Achievement Gap” Honorable mention: Clare Varellas, Acalanes HS, Lafayette, Calif., “Boy Scout Denied Membership and Eagle Award Due to Sexuality;” and Sophia Li, Lakota East HS, Liberty Township, Ohio, “Dornan’s Army: Back for Another Year” Judge: Ed Anderson, former Capital Bureau reporter, The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, La. YELLOW his year’s High School Communications Contest winners represented 13 states. Firstplace entrants from state contests across the country competed in the national contest.   Students competed in 20 categories: editorial, opinion, news story, feature story, sports story, columns, feature photo, sports photo, cartooning, review, graphics, single-page layout, double-truck layout, environment, video news story, video feature story, video sports story, yearbook layout, yearbook photo and yearbook copywriting.   Professional communicators and journalism educators judged the contest, which is sanctioned by the National Association of Secondary School Principals. Almost every judge this year commented on the overall quality of the entries, the challenging nature of the topics the students tackled and the excellence the students demonstrated whether they were writing, taking photographs, or designing pages and graphics.   Alexis Vinton of Omaha, Neb., who was the firstplace winner in the columns category, attended the awards luncheon and spoke briefly to the audience about her winning columns, her love for writing and her plans to study creative writing at college.   All national first-place winners received a $100 cash award; all first, second and third place and honorable mention winners received award certificates.   For more information about the NFPW and its annual contests visit www.nfpw.org.