Hays High School won the Class 4A Sweepstakes Award for garnering the most overall points at the state journalism contest on May 5 in Lawrence.
The state championship performance was a result of 14 students placing in the top six spots at the event, which is sponsored by the Kansas Scholastic Press Association.
Hays scored 37 points to beat out Chanute with 32 and Piper with 29. Within the Class 4A division, 20 schools managed to score at least one point or better.
This is the third time in the last four years that Hays has won the overall championship. Last year, the team finished second, narrowly losing to Chanute by three points.
At the state competition, students compete in 21 categories with points awarded to six placers for each individual contest. Five points is award for first; four points for second; three for third, and one point for up to three honorable mentions.
The University of Kansas hosted the day of the competition at the Memorial Union. Nine different categories, such as editorial writing and sports writing, took place on the day of the contest. Students used notes provided in prompts to inspire their writing and cartooning entries.
Earlier in the week, students submitted hundreds of other entries – in 12 different categories – to an online contest that featured design, photography and online categories.
. “I am so very proud of these students and what they have accomplished this year,” adviser Bill Gasper said. “I have been blessed with outstanding students and I am very grateful for their dedication and hard work. Winning state is a great achievement and these students deserve a ton of recognition.”
In addition to the state championship, Hays High was awarded All-Kansas for the school’s newspaper as well as the newspaper’s online edition. All-Kansas is the top award given by the Kansas Scholastic Press Association.
“As you can see, our students have the ability to excel as individuals as well as work successfully in a team environment to produce outstanding publications,” Gasper said. “It’s been a great year and I hope the Hays community is equally as proud of these kids as I am.”
Those who placed at the state competition include:
DIGITAL ENTRIES
Infographics
Honorable Mention – senior Tana Herreman
Advertising
Honorable Mention – senior Alyssa Owens
Multimedia Storytelling
Second – senior Abby Balman, juniors Isabelle Braun, Alyssa Underwood and Kaitlyn Brown
Honorable Mention – junior Jacob Maska and sophomores Madison Weber and Allison Hillebrand
News Page and Design
Honorable Mention – senior Lacey Gregory
Sports Photography
First – junior Jacob Maska
ON-SITE ENTRIES
Copy Editing
Honorable Mention – junior Isabelle Braun
Cutline Writing
Second – junior Emily George
Editorial Cartoon
First – senior Elizabeth Lee
Editorial Writing
Third – senior Amiyah Gonzalez
Feature Writing
Second – senior Lacey Gregory
Third – senior Amiyah Gonzalez
Yearbook Copy Writing
Honorable Mention – sophomore Allison Hillebrand
Yearbook Sports Writing
Third – junior Jacob Maska
— Submitted