The Sun Sentinel Honors High School Journalists
Heather Wroth, Photo Editor/Staff Writer
June 7, 2012
Filed under Academics, Student Life, Top Stories
The Sun Sentinel, Forum Publishing Group, and Teen Link South Florida, hosted the 2012 High School Journalism Awards ceremony on April 26, at Hollywood Hills High School, and CCA was invited.
Every year, Sun-Sentinel’s Teen Link program invites all Broward, Dade, and Palm Beach high School journalism advisers to enter the competition, which consists of various categories, including, “Best Overall newspaper or news magazine,” “Best Headline,” “Best Cover,” etc (See the full list to the right). This year, our journalism teacher, Mrs. Maritza Gomez, entered The Messenger for the first time. “This is a great opportunity for our students to compete and network with other young journalists. Being around other high school advisers and journalists was a memorable experience, not only for myself, but more importantly, for two of my students, Heather Wroth and Brittany King, who were able to attend the ceremony with me.”
We wore matching Messenger shirts and sat in an auditorium with other classes four times our size, or larger. We were the only Christian school represented, and even though we were markedly outnumbered, we accepted 14 awards that night. Mrs. Gomez heard one of the advisers from one of the leading schools that were receiving many awards say, “Wow! They’re doing really good!”
“It was a cool thing to hear that,” said Mrs. Gomez. “That was great, but it was so incredibly good to see the two matching green “Messenger” shirts go up time and time again. Our message was on display all night. A new mission field for us, for sure. And that, was awesome!”
The judges appreciated our hard work, saying “The publication is chock full of professional headlines that do what a headline is supposed to do – get your interest with catchy phrasing that still tells you just what information the story will deliver. Even the paper’s less-flashy headlines on interior pages do the job in workmanlike fashion. And they fit great, too.”
Our favorite compliment was “The students used their media vehicle well to share their message.” The Messenger was created to share a message. God’s message. Our paper is based from Psalm 45:1, “My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.”
While the awards and accolades are always nice, the best part of that night was hearing “Calvary Christian Academy” called out. Everyone in that auditorium knew what we stood for. On a table near the door sat stacks of papers from all of the winning schools, ours included. Our team hoped then as we do now, that everyone who flips through The Messenger would consider his or her faith and turn to Christ. Through this awards ceremony, we got more than prestige. We were given a platform to share the Word of God, which is the biggest reward.
- Staffers of the Year: Alexandra Gomez, Jessie Gushue, and Heather Wroth
- Best Headlines- First Place
- Best Photographer-
First Place: Heather Wroth - Best Front Page- Third Place
- Best Print Layout/Design- Third Place
- Best Sports Section – Honorable Mention
- Best Sports Columnist- Honorable Mention: Tristen Johns
- Best Sports Writer- Honorable Mention: Gabe Tchividjian
- Best Entertainment Writer- Honorable Mention: Alexandra Gomez
- Best Web Design- Honorable Mention
- Best Web Dynamics- Third Place
- Best Overall- Honorable Mention
For a complete list of the award winners from every school, including judges comments, please visit: http://www.southflorida.com/specialsection/teenlink/sfe-teenlink-hsjournalismawardwinners2012,0,2918281.story#bestoverall.