Five students from high schools on Kaua’i received awards for their outstanding school newspaper work at the 31st annual Hawaii High Schools Journalism Contest. The contest recognizes students who dedicate extra time to their school newspapers and helps open the
Five students from high schools on Kaua’i received awards for their outstanding school newspaper work at the 31st annual Hawaii High Schools Journalism Contest.
The contest recognizes students who dedicate extra time to their school newspapers and helps open the door to a possible career or college major. Schools send in what they think is their best example in each category.
A panel of judges from the Hawaii Publishers Association, Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin chooses the winners; they also give feedback and critiques of students’ work.
Kapa’a High School’s most valuable staffer was senior Sharon Gibson, staff writer. “She has done an outstanding job with articles and great layout. She always takes the initiative & does some extremely creative things, and she’s also a great writer,” said newspaper advisor Elen Zerzosa.
Gibson transferred in 2001 to Kapa’a High from St. Francis High School, where she worked on their newspaper staff. Gibson is planning to attend Kaua’i Community College after graduation.
Employing four staffers was a rare case among the other high schools’ entries, Zerzosa said. “The Tradewind,” a six to eight page paper, is published once every two months.
Judges selected Kaua’i High School seniors Mia Braverman and Troy Ragsdale for their work in photography and feature writing in their quarterly newspaper, “Making Waves.”
Winning an award for two photographs in “Football season kicks off” was Mia Braverman, first-year photo editor. “I’ve been interested in photography mostly through my high school years,” Braverman said. She is planning to attend the University of Washington, and is interested in studying architecture.
Ragsdale, Kaua’i High’s feature writer, won for “Troy’s music column,” which highlighted the talents of Kaua’i reggae group South Side Shabah.
“Usually, either friends or my English teacher Mrs. Kamm, who is also in charge of the paper, asks me to write. I preponderantly write about music,” Ragsdale said.
Ragsdale plays drums in a band called Longshot 808, placing third in a “battle of the bands” competition. He’s interested in art and enjoys surfing; he’s also active in his church’s youth group. In college, he plans to major in journalism and someday start his own magazine.
Kaua’i High School newspaper advisor Lindsay Kamm chose Kim Kido, editor, as their most valuable staffer. Kido was in Milwaukee for the national mock trial competition and couldn’t attend the awards banquet.
“She’s put in many long hours, covered many incomplete assignments and made sure there was something to fill every spot in the paper,” Kamm said of Kido.
Braverman got to attend the Honolulu awards banquet with at least 250 other students from the 34 schools whose newspaper staffers won awards. The students toured the Honolulu Star-Bulletin to learn how a daily newspaper gets produced.
“It was a good honor to get to do that,” Braverman said of the awards ceremony and tour of the Star-Bulletin. “I found out how much goes into a newspaper, how much creativity goes into it,” she added.
Staff Writer Kendyce Manguchei can be reached at kmanguchei@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 252).
