The Dexter Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Squall making headlines
Dexter High's school newspaper earns both national, state awards
By Terry Jacoby, The Dexter Leader
PUBLISHED: May 3, 2007
The staff of The Squall, the student-run school newspaper at Dexter High School, knows all about writing headlines. But recently they've been grabbing the headlines.
Advertisement
The Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) recently awarded The Squall a Silver Crown, its second highest award for overall quality in a high school newspaper. The Squall was one of only 44 high school papers in the country to be Silver Crown nominees from CSPA. The award recognizes work from the 2005-06 school year.
The Squall staff also won The Spartan Award from the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association at the MIPA's fall convention on April 17 in Lansing. The Spartan is MIPA's highest award for overall quality in a high school newspaper and is The Squall's sixth Spartan in seven years.
The CSPA announced its awards for scholastic publications at the 83rd annual Scholastic Convention at Columbia University in New York. This year 1,860 CSPA members were eligible to enter the Crown Awards. Publications were judged on writing/editing, design, concept, photography, art and graphics.
Thirteen newspapers received Gold Crown Awards, presented annually since 1982.
Dexter High School's Rod Satterthwaite, a teacher advisor to the Squall, says the reason for the paper's success is "threefold."
"First, students realize this is their paper and they take ownership of it and pride in it because of that," Satterthwaite said. "They decide what to write about, how to design it and what photos to take. The quality of it sinks or swims with them, and they know that previous staffs have set the bar high. They don't want to let the student body down by producing an inferior product"
The second part of the equation, according to Satterthwaite, comes from the support of administrators and faculty members.
"Teachers often recommend students who they think will make good staff members," he said. "Administrators respect the fact that this is a student-run publication and not 'pretend journalism' or a PR exercise for the district. And students come to the class with a strong writing background from other English classes throughout the district."
Ironically, the third reason has to do with recognition.
"We don't obsess about awards," Satterthwaite said. "Journalism is not a competitive sport. When awards like this come, they are awesome and validate the hard work students do in putting the publication together. However, students focus more on putting out quality journalism which informs, entertains and challenges their readers. When they do this right, awards will come."
Breakouts
MIPA honors
The Squall staff won The Spartan Award from the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association at MIPA's fall convention on April 17 in Lansing. The Spartan is MIPA's highest award for overall quality in a high school newspaper and is The Squall's sixth Spartan in seven years. In addition, the following students won individual awards from MIPA for their work on The Squall.
First place
Luke Altomare, editorial cartoon
Maria Brundage, review writing
Kim Wiesner, feature page design and news page design
Second place
Josh Ball, feature writing
Kim Wiesner, photostory design and opinion page design
Third place
Rawlin Myers, comic strip
Honorable mention
Catilin Henderson, sports writing
Celia Kuzon, sports writing
Rachel Moir, illustration
Rawlin Myers, comic strip
Heather Siller, review
Austin Shapiro, personality profile
Kim Wiesner, story package, front page design, entertainment page design and photo storry design
Other honors
Two Squall staff members also won national awards for their work from Quill and Scroll and The University of Iowa school of journalism, Frank Dufek and Luke Altomare. Frank won national honors for general column writing and editorial writing. Luke won national honors for his editorial cartooning skills. More than 4,000 students from around the country entered these competitions.
The 2006-07 Squall staff
Editor: Rob Kuzon
Managing Editor: Austin Shapiro
Designer: Kim Wiesner
Features Editor: Katie Fricke
Entertainment Editor: Kelsey Schultz
News Editor: Sydney Ross
Opinions Editor: Frank Dufek
Photo Editor: Maria Brundage
Sports Editor: Celia Kuzon
Copy Editor: Scott Campbell
Advertising Manager: Katie Johnson
Cartoonist: Luke Altomare
Staff Writers: Ryan Aliapoulios, Josh Ball, Kyle Boren, Michelle Chirby, Scott Crompton, Conor Daining, Caitlin Henderson, Jake LaRosa, Hunter Lyons, Nic Miller, Rachel Moir, Brent Muse, Rawlin Myers, Charlie Pettit, David Pisano, Lisa Ritchie, Scott Sarver, Heather Siller, Krystyna Taheri, Sean Wallace, Ryan Winchester
The 2005-06 Squall staff
Editor: Michelle Svetkoff
Managing Editor: Rob Kuzon
Designer: Kendall Goode
Features Editor: Sara Newell
Entertainment Editor: Sam Harris
Education Editor: Christina Field
News Editor: Kyle Muse
Opinions Editor: Raleigh Holmes
Photo Editors: Brandon Mayotte and Spencer Ryan
Copy Editor: Hilary McCown
Assistant Copy Editor: Scott Campbell
Business Manager: Jennifer Allen
Circulation Manager: Maggie Craft
Contest Managers: Frank Dufek and Katie Fricke
Morale Managers: Sydney Ross and Kelsey Schultz
Cartoonist: Jared Myers
Staff Writers: Derek Ager, Maria Brundage, Casey Daczka, Katie Johnson, Celia Kuzon, Kevin McLaughlin, Mike Sayre, Austin Shapiro, Robyn Shepard, Nicole St. Pierre, Kim Wiesner, Ian Williamson, Jon Williamson, Caroline Wolcott, Ryan Yuenger
Extra! Extra!
The Dexter High School school newspaper was recently honored with two impressive awards:
The Silver Crown
The Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) recently awarded The Squall a Silver Crown, its second highest award for overall quality in a high school newspaper. The Squall was one of only 44 high school papers in the country to be Silver Crown nominees from CSPA. The award recognizes work from the 2005-06 school year.
The Spartan Award
The Squall staff won The Spartan Award from the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association at MIPA's fall convention on April 17 in Lansing. The Spartan is MIPA's highest award for overall quality in a high school newspaper and is The Squall's sixth Spartan in seven years.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
TOP JOBS
