Monthly Contests

Kevin Simpson of Shawnee Mission East was judged first place in feature writing for his story of a senior’s battle with cancer in the September KSPA Story of the Month contest. Andrew Goble, also from Shawnee Mission East, was judged first place in news writing, Ashley Golden of Maize High…...

Brittany Bonsignore‘s baseball photo caught the eye of University of Kansas journalism faculty in April, and the Shawnee Mission Northwest freshman won KSPA’s final Photo of the Month contest for 2009-2010. Judges were impressed with Bonsignore’s exploration of depth of field, her apparent understanding of tight cropping, the captured moment…...

Annie Unruh of the Lair yearbook at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School has won the April Story of the Month contest, which focused on yearbook page design. Unruh’s winning work, which will be pages 20-21 of the Lair when it’s distributed this month, focuses on SMNW student Cormac Prosser and…...

Hannah Williams of Shawnee Mission Northwest won Best in Show in the March Photo of the Month contest with her shot of a fellow Northwest student practicing the butterfly stroke at a swim team practice. Judges commended Williams’ ability to capture the moment (a difficult thing to do when the…...

Katie Kulaga and Gaby Thompson’s two-page news magazine spread depicting students’ summer volunteer  work in Honduras was judged Best in Show and won the Shawnee Mission East students the next-to-last Story of the Month contest, which focused on news publications design. The spread ran in The Harbinger, East’s award-winning student…...

Megan Reilly of Shawnee Mission North won KSPA’s February Photo of the Month contest for her beautifully stark and poignant photograph of a Naval Junior ROTC student undergoing inspection. The strong composition, the perfect cropping and the story being told by the photo’s contrast — the statue-still soldier and her…...