Journalism students place second at KSPA state competition
KSPA state competition had over 1,200 entries, 63 first-place winners and 6 sweepstakes awards were given.
Journalism students came up just short in winning their third straight team championship at state competition on May 6.
Hays ended up with 33 points to finish in second in Class 4A behind Bonner Springs with 36. Chanute was also in the mix with 30 points. Overall, 17 Class 4A schools scored at least one point or better at the competition, which is sponsored by the Kansas Scholastic Press Association.
Individually, Hays had several students place in the top six spots with some students placing in multiple events. The competition awards first, second and third places along with three honorable mentions.
It was sophomore Jacob Maska’s first year participating in state competition, competing in Sports Writing. Maska said that while he didn’t do as well as he originally hoped, he was still proud of his work.
“I felt I put a solid effort in and so did the rest of the team,” Maska said. “I think the whole team wanted to win the sweepstakes but I am looking forward to competing next year.”
Junior Lacey Gregory also said she had hoped for the team to receive the sweepstakes award.
“Second place isn’t anything to be upset about,” Gregory said. “Qualifying for state is an accomplishment in and of itself.”
Senior Hannah Thomasson participated in her second year of state. Thomasson competed in Yearbook Theme and Development and Cutline Writing.
“My strongest event was probably Cutline Writing,” Thomasson said. “It’s always been easy for me to write captions and I think they’re fun to write.”
Maska said that even though the results weren’t what he expected, he still had a good time competing.
“I am a very competitive person and I compete all the time,” Maska said. “I just liked to go against the best writers in the state.”
Hays individual results are as follows:
Senior Sierra Eichman
Academic Photo, 2nd
Online Photo Gallery, 3rd
Cutline Writing, HM
Yearbook Copy Writing, HM
Yearbook Theme & Development (with Tiana Lawson)
Senior Tiana Lawson
Infographic, Honorable Mention (HM)
Online Photo Gallery, HM
Photo Illustration, 3rd
Yearbook Theme & Development (with Sierra Eichman), 1st
Seniors Kara Brooks, Madison Crees and Anniston Weber
Multimedia, 2nd
Senior Peyton Augustine
Sports Writing, HM
Junior Lacey Gregory
Headline Writing, HM
Newspaper Page Design, 3rd
Junior Elizabeth Lee
Editorial Cartoon, HM
Sophomore Hannah Harman
Academic Photo, HM
Sophomore Isabelle Braun
Copy Editing, 3rd
18agonzalez@usd489.com
This is Amiyah Gonzalez. She is a senior and this is her third year on the newspaper staff. She is involved in orchestra, leadership team, musical, spring...
