A six-page special section about recycling, with an accompanying editorial accessible via QR code, has taken top honors in the 2020 Woman’s Press Club of Indiana “Best of the Best” portion of its annual high school competition.
“No Time to Waste” was created by six students from Carmel High School in Carmel: Sowmya Chundi, Rhea Acharya, Riley Terbush, Calina He, Jackie Hur and Wendy Zhu. The coverage began with a feature about a student passionate about recycling and broadened to include local as well as worldwide information on the subject.
“The story and accompanying photos, graphics and video link make for a superb entry,” judges wrote. “Kudos for being so up-to-date with political information that impacts this topic, and for being so local. Also, you offer solutions that include, most importantly, a change in attitude.”
The feature was published in the Oct. 24, 2019, edition of the Hi-Lite, CHS’s student newspaper. The adviser is Jim Streisel.
Taking second place was a pair of columns under the heading “Music and Musings” by Rachel Bayler of Southport High School in Indianapolis. One column was titled “Loss does not come without growth,” the other “Home is at the heart of the holiday season.” The newspaper adviser is Michael Klopfenstein.
Third place went to a feature story titled “Goodbye” by Kendall Reynolds, Hope Lynas, Jon Page and Jenna Schweikert of Noblesville High School in Noblesville. The newspaper adviser is Joe Akers.
WPCI’s state competition is the affiliate-level portion of the national competition hosted by the National Federation of Press Women. Indiana’s first-place entries in each category went on to national judging by NFPW.
Indiana’s “Best of the Best” were chosen from Indiana’s first-place entries in each category. Each entry was judged according to how successful it was in adhering to its specific category descriptor.
WPCI vice president Elizabeth Granger directs the club’s high school communications contest.
