Some well-deserved recognition for student reporters from The West Bend Current as they took home a dozen awards from the Northeastern Wisconsin Scholastic Press Association.
A list of student reporters and their award-winning articles are posted below.
On a side note – I had the opportunity to work with these students in Eric Beltmann’s class. I loved it they felt comfortable enough to call me at home and ask for advice or direction or a phone number/contact information of someone they were trying to interview.
They also flagged me about stories they wrote so I could publish them on http://www.washingtoncountyinsider.com
The students allowed me in the classroom to talk about ethics in journalism, holding the bar high and having a strong moral character. We discussed some of the challenges and rewards they’d run into if they chose to follow this as a career path. We went through items like how to find a story, study human nature, qualities to being a good listener, and ways to tell readers what was going to happen before it happened.
High praise for all including student editor Lauren Sorensen who led by example and showed tenacity and a mighty big “thank you” to Mr. Beltmann for pushing everyone to be their best.
A portion of The Current article listing the awards from West Bend High School students is below.
Judges for the 2016 NEWSPA contest again gave blue ribbon honors to The Current for a website not published as part of a journalism class, saying that many of the stories “reflect an original, enterprising approach to news gathering.”
The website’s student reporters also took home 11 individual awards.
Miranda Paikowski earned first place for her editorial cartoon about the November attacks in Paris.
Editor in Chief Lauren Sorensen also earned first place for an editorial reflecting on how students who were children on Sept. 11, 2001 now have a responsibility to remember that day. Sorensen led all staff members with three prizes.
Full List of Awards
- The Current was given blue ribbon honors for a website not published through a journalism class.
- Lauren Sorensen earned first place for her editorial “The Children of 9/11 Are Not Children Anymore.”
- Sorensen also took second place for In-Depth Reporting for her series about standardized testing and third place for her editorial “State Law Should Guarantee Freedoms for Student Journalists.”
- Miranda Paikowski won first place for her editorial cartoon “We Are With You.”
- Maggie Kieser was awarded second place in the General News Story category for “Too Many Turnovers.”
- Kieser also took place third place in the Sports News Writing category for “That Doesn’t Look Good.”
- Beth Williams was given second place in the Personality Profile category for her feature “Veterans Day: Meet John Zink.”
- Hannah Bensen earned third place in the General News category for “It’s All Coming Together.”
- Bensen also won third place in the Academic News category for “The Physics Egg Drop Is Toast.”
- Alyssa Birkeland was awarded third place for In-Depth Reporting for “Not an Easy Path.”
- Allison Trampe took third place in the News-Based Feature category for “Practice Goes Into Overtime.”
The Current competed in the large school division of the NEWSPA contest. The student news site is advised by Eric Beltmann.
(Photograph by Kim Barrett, East English teacher.)