Winners!

Harvard-Westlake earns first PSJA Blue and Gold

Here are the winners from the first 2022 PSJA Contest. If you’d like to watch the entire Awards Ceremony, please scroll down and play the embedded YouTube video.

Harvard-Westlake School’s The Chronicle and Harvard-Westlake junior Claire Conner starred, with The Chronicle earning the overall Blue and Gold Award for staff excellence, and Conner winning five individual awards.

St. John’s School’s The Review finished a close second, while The Gator from Brimmer and May School finished third. In all, PSJA and Quill and Scroll gave out 23 awards. Here they are, along with comments from the panel of judges:

WRITING

News Writer of the Year

First Place — “Each portfolio story contains solid quotes that back up story facts. Sources and explanations are thorough.”

Claire Conner, Harvard-Westlake

Sports Writer of the Year

First Place — “Wilson does a great job with a variety of stories. The reporter also took a traditional announcement story — player of the week — and turned it into a mini-feature. That’s the mark of a great journalist.”

Bailey Wilson, St. John’s School

Opinion Writer of the Year

First Place — ”Opens opinion pieces with a contextualizing graph that centers the reader in reality before diving into the writer’s claim and social commentary. This is a strong skill for a writer to use because it establishes credibility quickly and makes it clear the writer is a journalist-first, meaning all opinions are backed by facts and reporting.”

Claire Conner, Harvard-Westlake

Second Place — “Perhaps the best strength the writer has is their ability to paint a picture with words. The result of such painting allows the audience to participate in that vision, leading the reader to really feel a connection with the piece, intended or not.”

Natalie Kozhemiakin, Brimmer and May

Third Place — “The author knows how to tell a story with a narrative approach as the veil for social commentary. This is a really strong tool to use as it gives the writer so much potential in connecting with their audience while also putting forth their agenda. It seems to me this author has a great future in narrative storytelling and may even write some promising novels.”

Andrew Claire, LaSalle Prep

Features Writer of the Year

First Place — “You have a real knack for getting people to authentically convey their situation to you, and that enables you to craft great portraits of life in your community. You deftly set the scene and use just the right words to help you bravely tackle potentially difficult and controversial issues. You have a fine vocabulary and aren’t afraid to deploy it accurately whenever possible, imbuing your work with a sense of specificity and accountability.”

Annie Jones, St. John’s School

Second Place — “You’ve established a fine voice, and you have an aptitude for setting the stage in a way that creates compelling stories. You offer great details, insights and conclusions. Your articles are well-sourced, with solid facts and data that elevate your work. “

Lily Lee, Harvard-Westlake

Third Place — “With your sharp interviewing skills, you help make connections between different facets of your school by gently guiding readers through each of your articles.”

Cameron Ederle, St. John’s School

OTHER INDIVIDUAL AWARDS

Versatile Journalist of the Year

First Place — OPINION: This was very well researched with links; I found it very educational and powerful! NEWS, FEATURE & INSTAGRAM DESIGN: All are extremely well done. The LIVESTREAM had nice visuals.

Claire Conner, Harvard-Westlake

Second Place — The FEATURE, SPORTS, NEWS articles are very well done.  

Natalie Cosgrove, Harvard-Westlake

Third Place — NEWS: This is a good story with lots of quotes. The PHOTO ESSAY is very nice and has animated photo captions. SPORTS: Writer did a nice wrapup of varsity sports during COVID. 

Edan Zinn, Brimmer and May

Social Media Journalist of the Year

First Place — “You have packed a great amount of information into the content. You have stats and quotes. You use clean designs and colors that pop. Using multiple slides allows for strong storytelling and draws readers into the story you want them to read.”

Claire Conner, Harvard-Westlake

Photographer of the Year

First Place — “You have a strong variety of photos in your portfolio. From news, to sports to illustrations. That helped separate you from the competition. Your illustrations are well thought out and implemented very well.”

Edan Zinn, Brimmer and May

Second Place — ”You demonstrate skills in exposure and timing. You have a great ability to capture reactions. That appears to be your area of expertise.”

Lexi Guo, St. John’s School

AWARDS BY CLASS

Freshman of the Year

First Place — “The writer isn’t afraid to approach a wide variety of topics from national trends like Wordle to the art of a local neuroscience teacher.”

Aleena Gilani, St. John’s School

Second Place — “The writer doesn’t waste words to illustrate a point.”

Lucy Walker, St. John’s School

Third Place — “The writer strived to include a variety of sides: both students and teachers in the study time story as an example.”

Sophia Mattei, Padua Academy

Sophomore of the Year

First Place — Writer has some really interesting and timely topics and issues in their coverage—topics and issues that directly relate to the writer’s audience, which is of utmost importance.”

Annie Jones, St. John’s School

Second Place — “Writer has an engaging writing style that draws the reader into the story. Another strong quality the writer possesses is an ability to frame issues within context well, familiarizing the reader with the full scope of the topic being discussed.”

Ella Piper Claffy, St. John’s School

Junior of the Year

First Place — ”Your entry shows that you are well-rounded because you submitted columns, editorials and news stories.”

Claire Conner, Harvard-Westlake School

Second Place — “You made the story about how the pandemic affected the band come alive visually for the readers with quotes about how students still managed to play.”

Edan Zinn, Brimmer and May

Third Place — ”Your best story was the one about Derek Chauvin. You did a good job localizing it by quoting students and the quotes had good depth.”

Grace Papas, Brimmer and May

TEAM/SCHOOL AWARDS

Editorial Leadership

First Place — “Sophisticated approaches both to the reporting on a wide variety of issues and the presentation of the reporting. Issues were localized, and the personality and tone of the paper certainly provide the sort of “model of leadership” we want to support and encourage.”

St. John’s School

Continuous Coverage

First Place — “This is such an important and timely topic. The staff did an excellent job following developments as the story progressed. This is a true example of continuous coverage, and it explores a serious public-affairs topic. The stories included a wide range of perspectives, and the staff did its legwork to ensure completeness and fairness. Readers understand the nuance of the topic after reading these pieces.”

Harvard-Westlake School for River Park coverage

Blue and Gold Awards

First Place — Harvard-Westlake

Second Place — St. John’s School

Third Place — Brimmer and May