The Southfield High school newspaper staff received 16 individual awards at the 2012 Michigan Interscholastic Press Association Spring Conference on April 17.
The staff also took home a Gold Award for the print version of The Southfield Jay.
Earning first place was Sports Editor Aariston Dawson, a sophomore, for Sports Feature Story. The story feature the talented track star Latipha Cross and her battle with homelessness and cancer. Also in sports, senior Max Ellsberry took home a first place award for Sports News stories.
As a team, Jonathan Moore, Briana Sparks and Saisha Johnson took home a first place award for their in-depth feature about plagiarism and the consequences the students that fall victim to it face.
Jonathan Moore also won a second place award in the category Bylined Opinion Article. “It feels nice to get recognized for accomplishing something high school journalists prize,” said Moore.
Also winning a second place award was senior Mario Ogu for one of the most competitive categories, News Story. Ogu also received an Honorable Mention for editorial writing.
Fellow senior Raejine Wright won both second and third place for her amusing comic strips, and senior Seneca Peters took home a second place award for a review written on the movie
“Breaking Dawn: Part One.”
Winning third place was senior Lorrin Johnson for news analysis, senior Kadijah Doucette for Feature Column, junior Emanne Johnson for Portrait Photography and junior Jamie Mathis for Video Sports Story.
Lorrin Johnson, Editor-in-chief of
The Southfield Jay, said she is proud of her staff members. “There’s a lot of students who got an award,” she said. Participating in Newspaper teaches her staff how to write well, do interviews, and prepare for college, she said.
Though Andrea Spears didn’t place, she was awarded honorable mention by the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association for human interest feature writing. The entire staff of the Southfield Jay also received honorable mention for the category Sports Spread.