Palo Alto High School has good reason to be proud of its fleet of journalism publications.
On Feb. 23, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association released its 2011 Gold Circle Award for Online Media winners, a prestigious honor that recognizes superior journalistic work throughout the country, according to its website. Staffers from online news publication The Paly Voice, sports magazine The Viking and broadcast network INfocus claimed 28 of those awards in 14 categories.
Additionally, three Paly publications were nominated as 2011 Crown Finalists, which means they will receive either a Silver or Gold Crown at CSPA’s 87th Annual Convention on March 16-18. The Campanile is a newspaper finalist, [proof] is a magazine finalist and The Paly Voice is an online newspaper finalist.
The list of Paly winners are posted below, and a complete list of recipients can be viewed here.
VIDEOS
News Package
2nd Place: Olivia Diamond & Wes Rapaport, “Phil Winston: Paly’s new principal,” INfocus Television Network.
ONLINE MEDIA
Breaking News
1st Place: Staff, “The show must go on, school says,” The Paly Voice;
Honorable Mention: Staff, “Plane crashes, causes city-wide power outage,” The Paly Voice.
Secondary coverage
1st Place: Alex Sholtz & Jason Willick, “Dance cancellation reflects changing attitude towards student-run dances,” The Paly Voice;
Honorable Mention: Chloe Chen & Megumi Hine, “American aid worker shares firsthand experiences with Rwandan genocide,” The Paly Voice.
News online design web site
Honorable Mention: Spencer Schoeben & Matt Slipper, The Paly Voice.
ONLINE NEWS
News writing
2nd Place: Chloe Chen, “Palo Alto sends off class of 2010 in joyous graduation ceremony,” The Paly Voice;
3rd Place: Lucas Chan & Chloe Chen, “Bell schedule surveys released online for students and parents,” The Paly Voice;
Honorable Mention: Aaron Zelinger, “Class sizes grow amid funding dip,” The Paly Voice.
In-depth news/feature story
3rd Place: Chloe Chen & Megumi Hine, “Students stranded in Europe plan to fly home this week,” The Paly Voice;
Honorable Mention: Kyle Liu & Jeffrey Lu, “Mixed reactions to new pilot bell schedule,” The Paly Voice;
Honorable Mention: Jeffrey Lu, “Tutorial to remain mandatory for entire school year,” The Paly Voice.
Personal opinion: Off-campus issues
1st Place: Aaron Zelinger, “Opinion: marijuana should be legalized,” The Paly Voice.
General or humor commentary
1st Place: Gracie Marshall, “Volleyball’s losing percentage increases to six percent as Lady Vikes beat Mountain View,” Viking Sports Magazine.
Sports commentary
1st Place: Mark Raftrey, “Opinion: football continues impressive season with win over Wilcox,” Viking Sports Magazine.
Sports news
2nd Place: Sydney Rock, “Girls’ lacrosse upsets powerhouse St. Ignatius in overtime, 5-4,” The Paly Voice;
Honorable Mention: David Lim, “Girls’ cross-country finishes fourth at Artichoke Invitational,” The Paly Voice;
Honorable Mention: Ken Wattana, “Girls’ swimming falls short at CCS,” The Paly Voice.
Sports feature
1st Place: Ken Wattana & Jason Willick, “Swimming to stardom…” The Paly Voice;
2nd Place: Aaron Zelinger, “Veteran girls’ water polo team chases high goals for new season,” The Paly Voice;
Honorable Mention: Hannah Kim, “Paly alumni Jeremy Lin to play on Mavericks summer league team,” The Paly Voice.
News features
2nd Place: Sydney Rock, “Grads at UCS bash tuition hike,” The Paly Voice;
3rd Place: Rachel Harrus, “Stanford researcher turns skin cells into nerve cells,” The Paly Voice;
Honorable Mention: Chloe Chen & Rachel Harrus, “For administrator, new approach…” The Paly Voice;
Honorable Mention: Rachel Harrus & Sydney Rock, “Senior organizes soccer gear drive,” The Paly Voice;
Honorable Mention: Grace Barry & Elizabeth Sawka, “San Bruno fire affects local student,” The Paly Voice.
General feature
2nd Place: Hannah Kim & Grace Liao, “Paly graduates change student lives in Tanzania,” The Paly Voice.
Entertainment reviews
1st Place: Jason Willick, “Friend The Social Network at the box office,” The Paly Voice.