Culminating a successful year for McCallum publications, Mrs. Lorene Denney received the Max Haddick Journalism Teacher of the Year Award for Texas at the Interscholastic League Press Conference held in Austin March 21 and 22.
Although she was the unanimous selection for the award, Mrs. Denney said, “I was stunned and extremely nervous. I would have thought I would have been elated, but I sat in suspended shock for a long moment before I walked up to the stage.”
Mrs. Denney’s award was not the only success for McCallum journalism at ILPC. Both the Shield and the Knight won Awards of Distinguished Merit, one step below best in class.
Such success is nothing new to McCallum publications, as Mr. Randy Stano’s newspapers and yearbooks were consistently among the best in the state. Mrs. Denney took over the program after Mr. Stano’s replacement resigned after the first six weeks of the 1978-79 school year.
“Of course I’m very pleased with the awards. Both staffs, especially the Knight, were inexperienced. What turned out to be the Knight staff was enrolled in the advertising class at the beginning of the year,” Mrs. Denney said.
Success in publications is nothing new to Mrs. Denney, either. She put in 11 award-winning years at Reagan High School, highlighted in 1976 as the Reagan newspaper won Tops in Texas and Mrs. Denney received the Edith Fox King Award, sort of a runner-up to teacher of the year.
Mrs. Denney expects to enhance the reputation of McCallum publications in the coming years. She said, “Since we’ll lose a total of three seniors from both staffs, we hope to continue our success in competition. I was very pleased with our UIL individual winners, since they were juniors competing against mostly seniors.”
Reflecting on her honor Mrs. Denney said, simply, “Maybe I won because I care. Some may work harder under more adverse circumstances, but none care more.”
This story was originally published in the Shield on April 18, 1980.
![Carole Keeton holds her granddaughter, Anna McClellan (who happens to have the byline for this article), and is surrounded by her other granddaughters, Kathryn and Michelle McClellan, as she gives her concession speech for the gubernatorial race on Nov. 7, 2006. Although, she lost the race, having her family there made it one of the highlights of her political career. "The [best] moments are the moments when the family is all there. And they’re there in good times, and they’re there in the tough times."](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/DP78C4-900x538.jpg)
