LANSING – The Southfield High School newspaper staff received double gold awards yesterday at the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association conference.
One gold award was for the student news website – southfieldjay.com – and the other was for the print version of The Southfield Jay school newspaper.
In addition to the gold awards, 15 members of the school news staff received individual state honors. “I think we did well this year,” said senior staff writer Sierra Mays. “We took home a lot of awards. Many of them were unexpected,” said Mays, “but it was great watching our entire staff being awarded.”
Those receiving individual awards included seniors Rashad Timmons with a first place in news analysis, Tania Lee in advertising layout, Jasmine Walker and Andrew Melton in enhanced story packaging for the web, and junior Raejine Wright in comic strip art.
“I was excited about receiving a first place award my first year on staff,” said staff artist Wright. “I didn’t think I was going to win anything, let alone a first place award.”
Center spread editor Rashad Timmons, who is the valedictorian for the Class of 2011, took home the most awards of any Jay staff member this year. He earned four honors.
Staff editor Andrew Melton said he was especially happy to see Timmons receive multiple awards. “I think his awards were all well deserved,” said Melton. “He is one of the best on staff when it comes to consistency and work ethic.”
Seniors Jasmine Love and Timmons received a second place in entertainment reporting for their story, photos and page design about the Franklin Cider Mill.
Editor Melton received a second place in sports news writing for an in-depth report of schools that charge athletes an annual pay-to-play fee.
Five members of the news staff also received third place state honors. Seniors Craig Lewis and Timmons took third in photo journalism, Eboni Person took third in bylined opinion writing, and Lexus Dorsey and Ariana Dadashzadehzanjani took third place in photo slideshow with audio. Their slideshow featured Southfield High teachers who grew beards in November to raise awareness of prostate cancer.
Ten students received honorable mentions, including:
* Lorrin Johnson for news writing
* Craig Lewis for sports photography
* Mario Ogu for editorial writing
* Rashad Timmons for review writing
* Shabree Isom for alternative story reporting
* Lawrence Hill for sports feature writing and for diversity coverage
* Raejine Wright for editorial cartooning
* Alisha Cayce and Eboni Person for paired pro/con editorial writing