Chicago students celebrate a great year of student journalism at the 2014 High School Journalism Awards.

 

Hats off to the students journalists from around Chicago who were awarded for journalism excellence by the McCormick Foundation and the Scholastic Press Association of Chicago on March 11, 2014.

The annual event, held at Roosevelt University and the Chicago Cultural Center, included a series of awards to the teens and their respective print and online newspapers.

This year’s Journalist of the Year, which came with a $1,500 scholarship, was awarded to Steinmetz’s Michael Amaya (Read the WhyNewsMatters.org interview with Amaya on winning the award).

The 22nd annual ceremony also included workshops by professional journalists on issues and a keynote speech on student press freedom by Frank Lo Monte, executive director of Student Press Law Center.

Earlier in the week, LoMonte shared “5 key steps toward achieving free speech” with group of Chicago students at the McCormick Foundation. [Read the recap of the discussion, “Journalism is a responsibly, no matter your age.”]

This year’s workshops featured an array of local journalists on topics from fact checking, editing and research to social media and mobile journalism:

• Nikoleta Morales, managing editor at Extra Newspaper and Roosevelt University on alum, “What is journalism and how/where do you find the right stories?”
• Evan F. Moore, senior writer, ChicagoSide and Roosevelt University graduate journalism student, presented on “The importance of social media in journalism.”
• Molly Strzelecki, managing editor, Lab Medicine and senior editor, Critical Values, American Society of Clinical Pathology and freelance writer/editor, talked about “Career on the side: Building a freelance career that works.”

Additional highlights and awards from the event:

• Christopher Dignam, principal at Lane Tech, principal of the year, received $500 toward the school’s journalism program
• Sharon Schmidt, journalism advisor, Steinmetz, earned the McCormick summer fellowship (pays $1500 toward a summer journalism workshop)
• Christine Hurley, St. Ignatius, won a McCormick summer fellowship  (funding toward a summer journalism workshop).
• Lane Tech and Morgan Park tied for the sweepstakes award, given to the school that wins the most awards. Both won 11.

Congratulations to all of the 13 participating schools and winning student journalists!

Who won?

Download the full list of the 2014 McCormick Foundation High School Media Award winners. Note: Victoria Boccia of Steinmetz was omitted from the booklet. She received an Excellent award in the General Feature category.

Categories: News & Updates, Stuff for Students