After previously attending three days worth of workshops at the Journalism Education Association (JEA)/National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) High School Journalism Convention, junior Editor-in-chief Tynin Fries, Senior Editor Maddie Yee and Features Editor Viviana Hinojosa, ’14, started the day off by teaching their own workshop, “Thriving in Cyberspace,” April 27.
In support of the editors, the remaining group of Feather staffers attended the session. The editors were given about 50 minutes to present and during this time discussed how they run their online paper. They also explained the editing process of articles from start to finish, and how they are constantly working to advance the multimedia aspect of the newspaper.
Following their presentation, a question and answer time was allotted, in which adviser Greg Stobbe, Fries, Yee and Hinojosa were able to explain further topics, and discuss new ideas with the audience.
Due to not eating breakfast before the editors’ workshop, the staff decided to walk to a Denny’s restaurant down the street to eat brunch. Once they refueled their energy with some food, the group made their way back to the hotel where they continued to attend various classes.
Staffers split up into groups to take part in different workshops, which included “Thriving in Cyberspace,” “A multimedia journey: revisiting a revolution,” “Writing creative captions,” “Broadcast your voice: Learn how to podcast,” and “10 steps to online success.”
During the “Broadcast your voice: Learn how to podcast” workshop at noon, sophomore Media Anchor Callista Fries and Tynin gave a presentation, teaching people how to podcast and giving them tips on the best way to make each podcast personal. Immediately following The Feather’s second class, the staff made their way to “10 steps to online success” in order to support and gain insight from the Wayland Student Press Network at their 1 p.m. session.
With about four hours of workshops behind them, The Feather staff walked to ZPizza for a late lunch. Students only had about a half an hour to eat before meeting back at the hotel for the award ceremony, which began at 3:30 p.m.
Over 4,100 students and advisers attended the conference, with a majority of the portion staying for the 2013 JEA/NSPA awards ceremony. The proceeding announced the winners of not only the Pacemakers, but also Best of Show, write-off winners, Hall of Fame publications winner and the 2013 Journalism Student of the Year.
Throwing the staff off, the Pacemaker awards were among the first to be presented, followed by the write-off awards and the Best of Show awards. WIth hands gripped together, Feather staffers Fries, Yee and Hinojosa joined the rest of the staff in the second row, anticipating the announcement. Screams of excitement and jumps of joy finally broke their hold when The Feather Online was announced as a 2013 Online Pacemaker winner in the Small Schools category.
Fries, Yee and Hinojosa jumped up to accept the award for The Feather staff. This was the fifth Online Pacemaker for the publication but the first time it earned back-to-back Pacemakers. At the end of the two-hour ceremony, The Feather was also named Best of Show in the Small School division, schools with 1500 student enrollment or less.
After all the Pacemakers were given out, the convention moved on to the write-off awards, with a total of 616 awards to be given. Senior Meredith Monke received an Honorable Mention certificate, for her work in the News Editing contest.
Following the write-off awards, Best of Show was presented to the various journalism publications. While editors Fries, Yee and Hinojosa waited nervously for the news, they were relieved to hear they had clinched first place in Best of Show, after placing third the previous year.
Right after the initial celebration, the staff ventured off to San Francisco’s Union Square to explore and take photos with their awards. After a bit of walking, the staff sat down for a celebration dinner at the Daily Grill.
With many shared laughs and memories, the staff headed back to their hotel to get some much needed rest, as well as to complete journalism tasks, while celebrating their accomplishments.
These writers can be reached via Twitter: @madeleineyee and @viv_hinojosa. Follow The Feather on Twitter: @thefeather.
For the previous day’s report, check out the April 26 article, Seaside stories, Day 3 (VIDEO, 11 PHOTOS).
