Senior George Brown displays his California Journalist of the Year plaque with The Viking adviser Ellen Austin and President of the Board of the JEANC, Tracy Anne Sena.

– Rachel Harrus

It was fifth period, and The Viking class had just quieted down.

Editor-in-Chief George Brown started off the class by showing some of the new features on The Viking website scheduled to launch that day. He scrolled down the website homepage, and as the class watched on the projection screen, a photo of Brown and Multimedia Editor Gracie Marshall came into view. A speech bubble from Brown’s mouth simply said “Prom?”. Then he brought out the flowers. And Marshall said yes.

“I was definitely not expecting it,” Marshall said. “But it was adorable. Very George. I’m so excited for prom.”

But that was only the beginning of an eventful fifth period. Brown knew he had won the Journalism Education Association California Journalist of the Year award, but what he didn’t know was that Tracy Anne Sena, JEA President of Northern California, was standing outside waiting to personally present him with a plaque and $500 check.

Palo Alto High School senior George Brown is an editor-in-chief of The Viking, Paly’s sports magazine. This is his fourth year playing baseball for Paly and his second year on the varsity team. This is his second year working on The Viking staff.

Brown said he learned he had won the award on Sunday, March 6, when The Viking adviser Ellen Austin texted him. As the Northern California winner, Brown received the $500 Arnetta Garcin Memorial Scholarship. Beating out the Southern California entry for the official state spot in the competition earned him an additional up-to-$500 expenses-paid trip to the spring national JEA/National Scholastic Press Association convention. The three-day convention will be held in Anaheim in mid-April and winners will be announced at the concluding awards ceremony, according to the JEA website.

Sena said the number of finalists won’t be known until everyone gets to Anaheim. Last year there were 38 finalists. The first place scholarship is $5,000 and runners-up receive $2,000 each.

According to Brown, his application included a 46-page portfolio showcasing his work on The Viking, three letters of recommendation, a photo of him “doing something journalistic,” and several short answer questions. Brown said he first discussed applying for the award with Austin in December but did not actually decide to apply until a few days before the February deadline.

“Ms. Austin really wanted me to apply because she thought I had a good chance,” Brown said. “But probably it was Christine Chang, one of Viking’s EICs from last year who really encouraged me to apply. I remember her saying, ‘I’ll be really mad at you if you don’t apply.'”

Brown’s mother brought cake to celebrate Brown’s award and The Viking’s official website launch. According to Austin, as far as she knows, http://vikingsportsmag.com is the first all-sports website at the high school level.

Brown said that, while many people contributed to the website, he was the driving force behind it. This push towards multimedia with a print publication is part of what made Brown’s portfolio stand out.

“He’s a pioneer in a whole new side of journalism that we’ve never seen before, and I think that’s really interesting,” senior and The Viking business manager Jack Smale said. “He works the hardest of of anyone on The Viking and it shows… We’re all really proud of him.”

Sena, who was one of the judges, described seeing many quality portfolios that were limited to print. Brown, on the other hand, included his live blog and several Facebook posts and tweets in his portfolio.

“What really sets George apart is he is doing 21st century journalism,” Sena said. Even to be the state winner is incredible because there is especially tough competition within California, and many past JEA National Journalist of the Year recepients have come from California, she said.

Austin’s comment from a few days earlier echoed Sena’s sentiment: “I’m so proud that Paly journalism is seeing one of its own honored as California journalist of the year. George’s work and his portfolio are impressive, but it’s especially cool to realize the spectrum and quality of journalistic work in Paly’s publication program overall. I hope that future Paly journalists will also submit portfolios for the competition next year.”