Area Student Publications Honored With Awards
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Four Chautauqua County schools received awards at recent student press conferences at Syracuse University and St. Bonaventure University.
Two hundred students from 16 New York and Pennsylvania schools attended Communications Day at St. Bonaventure University.
The guest speaker was state Sen. Catharine Young, R-Olean, who attended St. Bonaventure's school of Journalism and Mass Communications. After graduation from St. Bonaventure, she began her career as a newspaper reporter. She spoke about her transition to public service and the skills necessary for life after high school and college.
An award ceremony followed morning workshops.
Brocton High School's newspaper, "The Brocton Review" received the first place award for best newspaper. "The Spectator" of Fredonia High School took second place in the best news magazine category. Brighton High School received the second place rank in the newspaper category, while Orchard Park placed first as best news magazine.
Southwestern High School's yearbook received the first place award in the yearbook category.
Individual awards at St. Bonaventure included the following from Chautauqua County.
Depth reporting - Rebekah Skinner (Brocton), first place; Colleen Smardz and Ashley Bartela (Brocton) tied for second place; Taylor McFarland (Brocton), third place.
News reporting - Amanda Barrett (Brocton), third place.
Editorial writing - Amanda Barrett (Brocton), first place; Katelyn Muldowney (Fredonia), third place.
Feature category - Katelyn Muldowney (Fredonia), first place; Kayla Franchina (Cassadaga Valley) second; Andrea Lamphere (Fredonia) and Samantha DeJesus (Brocton) tied for third place.
News reporting - Amanda Barrett (Brocton), third place.
Photojournalism - Julia Gaiser (Brocton) first and third place; Meghann Nielsen (Brocton), second.
Sports reporting - Meghann Ludemann (Fredonia), first place; Colleen Smardz (Brocton), third.
Sports feature - Shane Nykula (Fredonia), third.
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Brocton and Fredonia were the only two schools from Chautauqua County to win the Gold All New York Award at Syracuse University's Empire State School Press Association presented at their fall conference.
This is the highest level of achievement, which was awarded to 14 New York newspapers, news magazines and yearbooks for the 2008-09 school year.
Brocton and Fredonia students won the following awards at Syracuse in statewide competition.
Editorials - Amanda Barrett (Brocton) gold; Rebekah Skinner (Brocton) silver. "The Brocton Review" staff also received a bronze and honorable mention for editorial pages.
Feature stories - Robert Crates (Brocton) silver; Jacquie Merle (Brocton) bronze; Brittany Peterson (Fredonia), honorable mention.
Layout and typography - Katie Muldowney and Meghann Ludemann (Fredonia) gold.
Personality interview story - Rebekah Skinner (Brocton) silver; Katelyn Stahlman (Brocton) bronze.
Editorial cartoon - Michelle Matthews (Brocton), gold and also a silver for cartoons, as well as a bronze for design of advertisements.
A bronze went to Julia Gaiser (Brocton) for her school merger study story. Meghann Nielsen (Brocton) received an honorable mention for a story about the presidential inauguration. Nielsen also won the bronze for her personal column.
Sports feature category - Samantha DeJesus (Brocton), bronze.
Sports news - Colleen Smardz (Brocton) and Chris Sears (Brocton) tied for the bronze; Ryan Bialaszewski (Brocton) and Robert Crates (Brocton) honorable mentions.
News story - Meghann Ludemann (Fredonia), silver; Jillian Markham (Brocton), silver; Rebekah Skinner, (Brocton) bronze.
"The Spectator" received a gold for most improved publication, as well as a silver in the First Amendment Honor Roll.
