MacJournalism had a banner day with today’s virtual announcement of the 2021 Interscholastic League Press Conference awards. The awards were announced in a series of videos and documents posted to the UIL journalism web page.

The Shield earned a Gold Star for its print newspaper for the second year in a row and the third time in program history. The Shield‘s website, macshieldonline.com, and the 2020 edition of The Knight, McCallum’s yearbook, each earned Bronze Stars.

The newspaper and yearbook staffs combined to win 91 individual achievement awards, and three of those earned the extra distinction of being named Tops in Texas, an overall first-place award earned in competition with the first-place IAA winners in all other UIL classifications.

Freshman Shield staffer Alice Scott earned Tops in Texas for her Feb. 26 entertainment review, “Alamo Drafthouse finds a way,” which favorably reviewed the theater’s pandemic policy of renting out entire screening rooms.

Scott teamed up with reporter Josie Bradsby and photographers Frances Arellano, Anna Bausman, Sophi Beardslee, Lissa Castro, Amaya Collier, Sarah Crow, Risa Darlington-Horta, Lily Dashner, Isabella Dietz, Olivia Escalante, Lily Hobbs, Julia Husted, Venus King, McKenzie Martinez, Jude Masoni, Will Myren, Lanie Sepehri and Ingrid Smith to win a Tops in Texas for the online multimedia package, “Students battle stress, fatigue, apathy as they adjust to virtual classes.”

Graphic artist Anna McClellan also earned Tops in Texas for her online computer art honoring the life and mourning the death of Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

2021 Interscholastic League Press Conference Awards

Staff

STAR AWARDS

Gold Star

The Shield, Ellen Fox and Bella Russo, editors in chief

Bronze Stars

The Knight, Mira MacLaurin, editor in chief

The Shield Online, Lucy Marco and Grace Nugent, editors in chief

Individual

TOPS IN TEXAS

Online computer art

Anna McClellan, The Shield Online

Online multimedia package

Josie Bradsby, Alice Scott, Frances Arellano, Anna Bausman, Sophi Beardslee, Lissa Castro, Amaya Collier, Sarah Crow, Risa Darlington-Horta, Lily Dashner, Isabella Dietz, Olivia Escalante, Lily Hobbs, Julia Husted, Venus King, McKenzie Martinez, Jude Masoni, Will Myren, Lanie Sepehri, Ingrid Smith, The Shield Online

Print entertainment review

Alice Scott, The Shield

5A INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

First place

Current yearbook academic-focused spread

Lindsey Plotkin, The Knight

Current yearbook blended coverage spread

Hannah Zuniga, Kaya Stone, Kennedy Weatherby, Carter Eason, Raleigh Savage and Anna Schlett, The Knight

Current yearbook feature spread

Lindsey Plotkin and Bella Russo, The Knight

Current yearbook story

Lucy Marco and Alysa Spiro, The Knight

Current yearbook student-life focused spread

Lindsey Plotkin, The Knight

Online computer art

Anna McClellan, The Shield Online

Online feature photo

Bella Russo, The Shield Online

Online feature writing

Madelynn Niles, The Shield Online

Online general news photo

Bella Russo, The Shield Online

Online in-depth news/feature package

Staff, The Shield Online

Online multimedia package

Josie Bradsby, Alice Scott, Frances Arellano, Anna Bausman, Sophi Beardslee, Lissa Castro, Amaya Collier, Sarah Crow, Risa Darlington-Horta, Lily Dashner, Isabella Dietz, Olivia Escalante, Lily Hobbs, Julia Husted, Venus King, McKenzie Martinez, Jude Masoni, Will Myren, Lanie Sepehri, Ingrid Smith, The Shield Online

 Online news writing

Evie Barnard and Kate Boyle, The Shield Online

Online photo portfolio

Bella Russo, The Shield Online

Online photo slide show

Bella Russo, Stella Shenkman, Bela Tapperson, The Shield Online

Online sports action photo

Bella Russo, The Shield Online

Online sports column

Anna McClellan, The Shield Online

Online sports news story

Grace Nugent, The Shield Online

Print cartoon

Anna McClellan, The Shield

Print entertainment review

Alice Scott, The Shield

Print feature writing

Madelynn Niles, The Shield

Print news feature

Lucy Marco, The Shield

Print personal opinion column

Tobin Wine, The Shield

Print sports news story

Grace Nugent, The Shield

Second place

Online entertainment photo

Bella Russo, The Shield Online

Online general news photo

Bella Tapperson, The Shield Online

Online in-depth news/feature package

Staff, The Shield Online

Online infographic/sidebar

Alice Scott, The Shield Online

Online multimedia package

Alice Scott, Sophie Leung-Lieu, Poppy Grimsley-Ridenour, Grace Vitale, Shea Wiedenmeyer, Naomi DiCapua, Mary Ellen Sanders, The Shield Online

Online personal opinion column

Samantha Powers and Alysa Spiro, The Shield Online

Pandemic newspaper news story

Samantha Powers, The Shield

Pandemic newspaper student life photo

Caleb Melville, The Shield Online

Print entertainment feature

Madelynn Niles, The Shield

Print feature photo

Caleb Melville, The Shield

Print general news photo

Grace Nugent, The Shield

Print news page/spread design

Alice Scott, The Shield

Print photo portfolio

Madelynn Niles, The Shield

Print personal column

Alysa Spiro and Samantha Powers, The Shield

Print sports feature story

Samantha Powers, The Shield

Print sports news story

Lily Prather, The Shield

Print sports page design

Samantha Powers, The Shield

Yearbook blended coverage spread

Hannah Zuniga, Lindsey Plotkin, Lucy Borowski and Abby Robison, The Knight

Yearbook captions

Anna Bausman, Lukas Bednar, Kristen Tibbetts and Javier Vela, The Knight

Third place

Adviser’s Challenge Objective Writing

Dave Winter, The Shield Online

Online editorial writing

Alysa Spiro, The Shield Online

Online entertainment photo

Caleb Melville, The Shield Online

Print editorial page page/spread design

Naya Domingo, Olivia Navarro, Bella Russo and Alysa Spiro, The Shield

Print entertainment page/spread design

Ellen Fox, Anna McClellan, Sofia Ramon and Theo Roe, The Shield

Print general news photo

Kate Boyle, The Shield

Print headlines

Madelynn Niles, The Shield

Print photo portfolio

Kennedy Weatherby, The Shield

Print portrait

Madelynn Niles, The Shield

Print personal column

Lucy Marco and Tobin Wine, The Shield

Print sports page design

Lucy Marco, The Shield

Yearbook ad design

Gabby Sherwood, The Knight

Yearbook club/organization feature story

Lindsey Plotkin, The Knight

Honorable mention

Adviser’s Challenge Photography

Dave Winter, Macjournalism

Current yearbook club-organization spread

Lindsey Plotkin, The Knight

Current yearbook people section spread

Hannah Zuniga, The Knight

Current yearbook photo portfolio

Caleb Melville, The Knight

Bella Russo, The Knight

Current yearbook sports-focused spread

Lindsey Plotkin and Hannah Zuniga, The Knight

Online computer art

Bella Russo, The Shield Online

Online entertainment feature

Madelynn Niles, The Shield Online

Online entertainment review

Madelynn Niles, The Shield Online

Samantha Powers, The Shield Online

Online feature story

Alice Scott, The Shield Online

Online infographic/sidebar

Anna McClellan, The Shield Online

Online portrait

Anna Garcia, The Shield Online

Online sports action photo

Kennedy Weatherby, The Shield Online

Online sports action photo

Caleb Melville, The Shield Online

Online sports news story

Lindsey Plotkin, The Shield Online

Online student artwork/cartoon

Kai Kirkham Macias, The Shield Online

Anna McClellan, The Shield Online

Online video story

Alice Scott, The Shield Online

Page One Newsmagazine Design

Ellen Fox, The Shield

Pandemic newspaper feature story

Madelynn Niles and Alysa Spiro, The Shield Online

Alysa Spiro, The Shield

Print editorial page page/spread design

Ellen Fox, Bella Russo and Alysa Spiro, The Shield

Print editorial writing

Evelyn Griffin, The Shield

Print entertainment feature

Alice Scott, The Shield

Print entertainment page/spread design

Samantha Powers, The Shield

Print news writing

Bella Russo, The Shield

Print photo story

Kennedy Weatherby, The Shield

Print sports feature story

Olivia Capochiano, The Shield

Print student art

Bella Russo, The Shield

Yearbook academic photo

Gabby Sherwood, The Knight

Yearbook club/organization spread

Lindsey Plotkin and Hannah Zuniga, The Knight

Yearbook feature spread

Lindsey Plotkin, The Knight

Yearbook index spread

Noah Cirkiel, Ian Clennan, Molly Gardner, Carly Johnson and Lindsey Plotkin, The Knight

Yearbook personality profile story

Ella Irwin, Jack Hester and Gabby Sherwood, The Knight

Yearbook student life feature story

Lindsey Plotkin, The Knight

Yearbook theme selection and development

Mira MacLaurin, The Knight

Yearbook portrait

Risa Darlington-Horta, The Knight