Scholastic Journalism Awards

Writing Category

First Place
John Mancuso
Blessed Sacrament School
“What service to our country means to me”

The author has done a good job of stating his point, backing it up and then summing up his position at the end. I like the way he draws the reader into his story with short sentences that keep the reader moving from one to the other, learning a little bit with each one until the reader comes to the point – how the author feels privileged to have had such special grandfathers. And that leads to why he thinks what they did was so special and his thought that more people should serve this country. The story flows well. He offers some very practical, concrete suggestions as to how kids can serve their country. I liked the sentence, “Any person, young or old . . . extraordinary accomplishment.” It’s powerful.

Second Place
Lee McAdams
Riverside Middle School
“Keeping the World a Greener Place“

Clearly, there was some good “leg” work here, meaning the author did a good job investigating the issue and talking to people about it. There is a good use to quotes to add details to the story. There was a nice job of using what I like to call “word pictures,” that is, writing so clearly that it conjures up images in the reader’s minds. The image of the mountain of trash north of Pawtucket Avenue mimicking the Alps is a strong one.
A solid job of reporting.

Third place
Cara Kaplan
Alperin Schechter Day School
“Mean Girls Strike Back”

This is a nice job of reviewing a movie in rather limited space. Cara makes good use of only seven paragraphs to concisely discuss the movie’s plot.
She was very clear in an impressive economy of words to tell the reader why she thought the movie was good. Also, I like the way she used a “clip” from the movie to back up her assertion that the movie contained a few subtle jokes.