Lions Roar earns Gold Star
With competition stiffer than ever, Albany’s student newspaper staff collected one of only four Gold Star awards given at the Interscholastic League Press Conference (ILPC) annual spring convention held at the University of Texas campus in Austin last weekend.
Fifteen students who have been putting together the 2018-2019 Albany High School newspaper, The Lions Roar, earned more than three dozen individual achievement awards and helped the student paper win the “Gold Star Award” and receive a Print Newspaper Distinguished Merit Award for the fourth year in a row.
In addition, sophomore Hannah Trail was chosen for a Tops in Texas award for her editorial cartoon.
“The kids were thrilled for us to get back to a Gold Star after three years of Silver Stars,” said newspaper adviser Donnie Lucas. “The standards for the Star Awards were raised three years ago, and the newspaper staff has worked very hard to make the necessary changes to meet the criteria.”
This year only four Gold, four Silver and eight Bronze Stars were given from the 250 or so newspapers in the state in Class 1A through 6A.
“I don’t really think people understand what an accomplishment it is for these 2A students to compete with all other papers across the state to be one of just four Gold Stars,” said Lucas. “It is something really special that very few newspaper staffers ever get to experience.”
The spring conference included instructional sessions and events throughout the day on Saturday and on Sunday morning before the noon awards ceremony.
In addition to what they learned last weekend, local students also attended an ILPC summer camp for the first time last summer.
“I think one of the most positive things we did for this year’s paper was attending the ILPC camp last June,” said the sponsor. “We only had four people go, but they learned so much and came back and shared with the other staff members.”
Lucas said that eight students plan to participate this summer, and he’s “expecting great things” from the 2019-2020 staff.
A total of 19 students attended the conference, including several from Lucas’ current journalism class.
Gold Star Award
The Gold Star award places the local high school newspaper in a very elite group of school papers in the entire state, according to ILPC director Jeanne Acton.
This is the 14th straight year that the Albany school paper has won a Star Award.
“The kids took it in stride and were happy with silver, but they really wanted gold again,” said Lucas. “They don’t realize what an honor it is to be in the top 10 newspapers out of about 500 in the state overall.”
The Lions Roar earned a Bronze Star in 2006, the first time that there were local entries in the ILPC competition, and since then there have been seven gold and six silver Stars.
Top school newspapers from all classifications are nominated for print Star Awards, and this year only four were selected to receive a Gold. Other staffs were from Pleasant Grove High School (4A-Texarkana), St. Mark’s School (4A-Dallas), and Texas High School (5A-Texarkana).
“In the past they typically have given 25 newspaper stars, but this year, they only gave 16,” said Lucas.
Star winners this year were again primarily from 5A and 6A schools.
Albany was the only Star winner from among the 1A, 2A or 3A schools.
Tops in Texas Awards
Tops in Texas winners are picked from among all the first place entries in each of the seven divisions.
Sophomore Hannah Trail received a Tops in Texas award for editorial cartoon design, beating out first place winners from all the larger schools.
“This means that Hannah had the single best editorial cartoon in the whole state in all divisions,” Lucas said. “It’s a big deal for a 2A student to get Tops in Texas.”
Newspaper Awards
Printed newspapers from 1A through 3A schools across the state of Texas competed against each other for awards in 28 individual categories.
“We’ve always been with 1A, but ILPC combined us with 3A entries this year, so the competition was harder,” said Lucas. “We didn’t get as many first places, but what we did get means more.”
Even so, the Lions Roar staff received 20 first place awards out of 30 categories, and they didn’t have entries in three of those,
Harrison (Kade) Everitt and Addison Asher are co-editors-in-chief of the school paper this year.
Individual Winners
News Writing - 2. Harrison Everitt
News Feature - 1. Hannah Trail, 2. Jillian Guinn
Editorial Writing - 1. Caitlyn Patterson
Sports News Story - 2. Cade Neve, 3. Ryan Hill
Sports Feature Story - 1. Harrison Everitt, HM. Tana Thompson
Feature Story - 1. Harrison Everitt
Entertainment Feature - 1. Jackson Chapman, 2. Addison Asher
Photo Story - 1. Taylor Scott, 2. Taylor Scott, Aubrey Moon
Personal Column - 3. Addison Asher
Personal Opinion Column - 2. William Webb, HM. Caitlyn Patterson
Sports Column - 1. Ryan Hill
In-Depth News/Feature Package - 1. Sidney Bartee, Hannah Trail, Addison Asher
Infographic/Sidebar - 1. Addison Asher, Harrison Everitt, 2. Addison Asher
Cartoon - 1. Hannah Trail, 2. Hannah Trail
Sports Page Design - 1. Alayna Koemel, Ryan Hill, 3. Addison Asher
Feature Page Design - 1. Addison Asher, 3. Addison Asher
Entertainment Page Design - 1. Addison Asher, 2. Addison Asher
News Page Design - 1. Addison Asher, Alayna Koemel, 2. Alayna Koemel
Editorial Page Design - 1. Addison Asher, 3. Addison Asher
Page One Design - 1. Addison Asher
General News Photo - 1. Jackson Chapman, 3. Tana Thompson
Feature Photo - 1. Simon McBee, 2. Taylor Scott
Entertainment Photo - 2. Simon McBee, 3. Taylor Scott
Sports Action Photo - 1. Tana Thompson, 3. Ryan Hill
Sports Feature Photo - 2. Tana Thompson
Portrait - 1. Simon McBee, 2. Simon McBee
Headlines - 1. Alayna Koemel, William Webb, Addison Asher, Tana Thompson
The ILPC conference showcases more than 100 instructional sessions on professional development, legal issues, trends in the field, journalism skills, careers, and job-related problems. Speakers are experienced advisers, professional journalists and university professors.
The ILPC is the journalism affiliate of the UIL and is one of the nation’s largest state high school associations of student newspapers and yearbooks.
