Scholastic Journalism Awards

News Writing Category

FIRST PLACE

Rachel Lowry
East Providence High School
New SAT comes to a school near you

This was a very well-written, informative and, at times, entertaining piece about the new SA Ts. You had a nice idea for the lead - using a fun "tease" to get your readers interested in what is otherwise a fairly mundane topic. You laid out your facts clearly and succinctly and bolstered them with quotes from a good mix of relevant sources. The story flowed nicely and was easy to read. Best of all, it had a great ending quote. Nice job!

SECOND PLACE

Bridgette Blight
Middletown High School
"I won't be home for the holidays"

This was a well-written story with lots of facts and quotes to back it up. The lead could have been a little more direct, focusing more on the sense of loss than the difference between the holidays here and in Iraq. But from there, you do a nice job of showing some of the difficulties faced by having family members overseas during the holidays. It would have been nice to have known exactly how many Rhode Islanders were serving overseas already, in addition to the 278 being sent when you wrote the story. But you were able to show how many students in your school were affected, and it was nice to read the comments from Sunn about how the students are coping. Nice job, overall.

THIRD PLACE

Marishka DeToy
North Kingstown High School
NKHS named 'high performing, improving' school

This was a well-reported and well-written piece. It not only announced the North Kingstown High School's ranking in the latest wave of testing, but included well-placed quotes from the principal and assistant principal to flesh it out. You did a nice job of explaining what the rankings mean, as well as how your school has performed over the years. Overall, nice job. (FYI, watch grammar. You say' 'it was not just the English and math teachers that helped improve scores. " The" that" should be "who.")