Shield staff ranks third in nation in fall NSPA individual entry contest
With nine winning entries—including a first place, three second and one third—MacJ places in Clips & Clicks top three for the third autumn in a row
For the third year in a row, the Shield staff has placed in the top three nationally in the National Scholastic Press Association’s fall semester individual entry contest.
The NSPA’s Clip & Clicks competition awards individual journalists recognition for top work done each semester in a variety of writing, design, photography and broadcast categories.
The contest also awards sweepstakes awards for schools who earn the most points for their total of individual awards earned.
A first-place individual award is worth 10 points, and a second-place award is worth nine and so on. Each category awards a top five and honorable mention beyond that. A fifth-place award earns six points, and honorable mentions earn a staff five.
In 2021-2022, the Shield earned first place nationally, and in the 2020-2021, the inaugural year for the competition, MacJournalism finished tied for second. In that year, sweepstakes points were awarded to all of the publication at each school. Last year and this year, only the awards earned by a single school publication count in the sweepstakes competition.
The judges consistently said they were very impressed with the quality of the entries submitted.
— NSPA associate director Gary Lundgren
CCNN Live, the broadcast program at Christopher Columbus High School in Miami leads the competition after the fall contest. CCNN Live won the inaugural sweepstakes award in 2020-2021.
The competition, open to all NSPA members, honors current work among student journalists, and the fall-semester winners feature work produced from May 28-Dec. 8 2022.
Ingrid Smith led all Shield staffers in this year’s competition with two writing awards, a first-place in news writing for her story, “Budget constraints force Mac orchestra directors to take over Lamar Middle School program,” and a third place for her concert review, “Harry Styles is ‘Golden’ during Austin residency.”
The other Shield winners are listed below with links to the piece that was chosen as a winner.
There were approximately 635 submissions in the fall competition. The judges were collegiate professors, student media advisers and professional journalists.
“The judges consistently said they were very impressed with the quality of the entries submitted,” NSPA associate director Gary Lundgren said.
In all, 105 entries, approximately 17 percent of those entered, were recognized. The number of winners in each category was determined by the judges based on the quantity and quality of the entries.
The grand sweepstakes winner for 2022-2023 will be announced as the spring semester Clips & Clicks winners are announced. The deadline for entry to the spring competition is May 3.
INDIVIDUAL NSPA CLIPS & CLICKS WINNERS
FIRST PLACE
News Story
“Budget constraints force Mac orchestra directors to take over Lamar Middle School program,” Ingrid Smith
SECOND PLACE
Feature Photo
“A sweet surprise,” JoJo Barnard
Newspaper Page/Spread
“Seeing these stars,” Sophie Leung-Lieu, Naomi Di-Capua, Alice Scott
Sports Story
“Volleyball program savors its championship season,” Naomi Di-Capua and friends
(JoJo Barnard, Morgan Eye, Jolie Gabriel, Caroline Owen, Ingrid Smith, Francie Wilhelm and Dave Winter)
THIRD PLACE
Opinion
“Harry Styles is ‘Golden’ during Austin residency,” Ingrid Smith
FIFTH PLACE
Sports Story
“Families that play together stay together,” Lanie Sepehri
HONORABLE MENTION
Feature Photo
“Pink Week revenge served,” Charlie Partheymuller
News Story
“Breaking down the bond,” Francie Wilhelm
“I fought and I never gave up,” Berger said. “I went into the match, and I was terrified, but it’s not about being afraid: it’s about what you do when you are afraid.” Although Berger walked away with a win, he felt that he could have left more on the mat. “I think I could’ve done a little bit better.” Berger said. ”I mean, some might say if you look at the scoreboard it was 11-4 some might say I was ‘killing it,’ but personally I think that there were a few things that I could’ve done better.” Photo by Lillian Gray.
Sports Photo
“Berger overcomes,” Lillian Gray
Zev Zent • Mar 10, 2023 at 2:32 pm
I liked the detail and quotes this story had along wiht the history behind the sport