Newspaper students were recognized for their collective effort when it was recently announced that the 2017-18 Guidon print edition and the Guidon Online were both awarded All-Kansas.
All-Kansas is the top state award presented to student newspapers, websites and yearbooks. Yearbook awards are typically announced late fall, while newspaper and website awards are announced in late spring. Hays High’s newspaper and website was named in the Class 4A division.
“All-Kansas is our ultimate goal for our publications, so it goes without saying that I’m extremely proud of the newspaper staff,” adviser Bill Gasper said. “This is the first time that both the newspaper and website have been awarded in the same year.
“Newspapers are judged in five areas – coverage, reporting, visuals, design and leadership. In each of those areas, the judge awards All-Kansas, an Award of Commendation, or an Award of Merit. The newspaper was awarded All-Kansas in two areas and Award of Commendation in three areas, but the judge gave the paper an overall All-Kansas rating.
“The paper’s main strength is in its comprehensiveness,” the judge wrote. “It’s a very sophisticated, impressive product that covers a variety of topics effectively.”
The website, meanwhile, is judged on coverage and content, writing and editing, breaking news, interactivity and multimedia, and design and navigation. The Guidon Online earned the top marks in four of those areas.
“Overall, you have a strong site,” the judge wrote. “Be proud of what you have created and maintained. I loved watching the updates on your site and seeing new stories as they were posted. Great job maintaining a site that is an example of what good sites should be.”
Editor-in-chief of the two publications is Lacey Gregory, while Amiyah Gonzalez is assistant editor. Isabelle Braun is the online editor.
“I’m extremely proud of the results we have received from the hard work we have put in this year on both publications,” Gregory said. “I’m pleased with the honors we received this year and I hope it will set a precedent for years to come.”
Other members of the editorial staff include sports editors Jacob Maska and Taylor Schiffelbein. Other staff members are Allison Brooks, Anna Brull, Hanna Dannar, MacKenzie Fagan, Alicia Feyerherm, Tana Herreman, Allison Hillebrand, Elizabeth Lee, Scout Perryman, Rebekah Porter, Dawson Rooney and Madison Weber.
“I’m really proud of the class,” Braun said. “I wanted them to push themselves so they could see what they could accomplish, and they did. We couldn’t have done it without Mr. Gasper though, so thank goodness we have him.”
Gasper said this is the seventh time in his 14-year tenure that the newspaper has won All-Kansas and the second consecutive year for the website. The newspaper has also been a Pacemaker finalist twice and won the award one time. The Pacemaker is a national award and is considered the highest honor a publication can achieve.
“The awards are a result of many hours of hard work by the staff and a belief of what they are doing is very important,” Gasper said. “And, not only is their work important, they are also learning valuable future workplace skills such as effective communication, teamwork, problem solving and creative thinking.”
— Submitted