The Kansas Scholastic Press Association is celebrating the best student work in its final Quarterly Clips Contest of the school year, honoring the strengths of 77 student entries.
Leading the competition was Shawnee Mission East High School with 12 placing entries, followed by Mill Valley High School with seven and Pittsburg High School with six. Judges reviewed more than 175 entries across a 20 categories and divisions based on school size.
About the contest:
Judges marked each entry with feedback for students to guide them in the future. Students compete by school classification with divisions for 1A/2A, 3A/4A and 5A/6A. When the 5A/6A categories were particularly large, they were split into separate divisions. The number of entries awarded for each category fluctuates based on the number of entries and judge preferences. We also asked judges to provide general feedback based on all the entries. Some of that feedback is included below.
Quarter 4 Design Winners
DESIGN: Digital Illustration 5A/6A
1st Place — Francesca Lorusso, Shawnee Mission East
2nd Place — Kai Wilson, Pittsburg High School
Feedback from the judges: “The winning graphics tell a clear and consistent story on their own.”
DESIGN: Editorial Cartoon/Cartoon 5A/6A
1st Place — Kai Wilson, Zach Coonrod, Pittsburg High School
DESIGN: Infographic Design 5A/6A
1st Place — Michael Yi, Shawnee Mission East
2nd Place — Celeste Jenkins, Lawrence Free State High School
Feedback from the judges: “Clear messaging mixed with technical execution made for the best results. ”
DESIGN: News publication design 5A/6A
1st Place — Claire Elley, Blue Valley Northwest
2nd Place — Avery Clement, Mill Valley High School
3rd Place — Avni Bansal, Shawnee Mission East
4th Place — Genevieve Timler, Kapaun Mt Carmel Catholic High School
5th Place — Dayla Jertson, Shawnee Mission Northwest
Feedback from the judges: “The winners had clear dominant images, cohesive and appropriate color schemes, strong headlines, and consistent font usage. Remember to make sure your background is fitting and text is legible on the background!”
DESIGN: Yearbook spread design 1A/2A
1st Place — Destiny Raymond, Altoona Midway USD387
2nd Place — Brooklynn Collins, Altoona Midway USD387
Feedback from the judges: “Remember color is best used as an accessory to highlight a portion of the spread that is intended to really stand out. Use it like I use tobasco sauce rather than downing it in ketschup.”
DESIGN: Yearbook spread design 5A
1st Place — Dylan Estes, Spring Hill High School
2nd Place — Srihansika Penugonda, Blue Valley Southwest High School
3rd Place — Ally Becton, Blue Valley Southwest High School
4th Place — Madi Brown, Spring Hill High School
Feedback from the judges: “I highly value spreads that make use of their space and take unique perspectives. Remember, it is a spread, not two pages or a puzzle of modules.”
DESIGN: Yearbook spread design 6A
1st Place — Aijalon Thao, Shawnee Mission North High School
2nd Place — Ro Lind, Shawnee Mission North High School
3rd Place — Ara Karbasi, Caitlin See, Olathe East
4th Place — Cooper Stoetzner, Lawrence Free State High School
5th Place — Abigail Oler, Shawnee Mission Northwest
6th Place — Vielka Corrales, Shawnee Mission South High School
Feedback from the judges: “Beautiful work throughout the entire category. Winners showed a clear understanding that content is king in design by using design to enhance readability.”
Quarter 4 Multimedia Winners
MULTIMEDIA: Multimedia story package 5A/6A
1st Place — Evan LeRoy, Kennedy Botkin, Jason Sweany, Avery Clement, Mill Valley High School
2nd Place — Macy Williams, Kristen LeBeau, Shawnee Mission North High School
Feedback from the judges: “The winner used multiple mediums that flowed together well and attempted to tell the story from every angle”
MULTIMEDIA: Podcast 5A/6A
1st Place — Emi Stone, Penny Coleman, Lawrence Free State High School
MULTIMEDIA: Social Media 5A/6A
1st Place — Katie Campbell, Julia Velasco, Lawrence Free State High School
2nd Place — Evan LeRoy, Mill Valley High School
MULTIMEDIA: Video news/feature 5A/6A
1st Place — Allan Juarez-Alvarado, Weston Howard, Pittsburg High School
2nd Place — Lily Bunker, Spring Hill High School
3rd Place — Isabella Silva, Pittsburg High School
Feedback from the judges: “The winner had a well-thought and unique story to tell about people in their school behind-the-scenes making a difference in their school community. Seek out those special and super rare stories to tell about people, places and things as much as you can. Overall advice is that your videos should have b-roll/action shots and can’t just be man-on-the-street style videos to fit into this specific category which calls for a real story, diverse video and media offered and a REAL story to be a true video package.”
MULTIMEDIA: Video sports news/feature 5A/6A
1st Place — Biti Hasabu, Mill Valley High School
Feedback from the judges: “I think the winner had really nice audio and diverse sources for the piece. It’s important to cover hard topics even in sports videos!”
Quarter 4 Photography Winners
PHOTO: Academics 5A/6A
1st Place — Ethan Adam, Pittsburg High School
2nd Place — Sarah Drake, Maize High School
3rd Place — Campbell Alldredge, Shawnee Mission East
Feedback from the judges: “Photos were well cropped, but several were not straightened. Be sure that is part of your process.”
PHOTO: Environmental Portrait 5A/6A
1st Place — Alex Flores, Olathe South High School
2nd Place — Evie Tindell, Mill Valley High School
Feedback from the judges: “There were two very strong photos here but the separation was the strength of the caption in the winning image, which completed the story. The image was technically accomplished and told a compelling story. Paired with an informative caption, it set the winner apart.”
PHOTO: Feature 3A/4A
1st Place — Holly McGee, Bishop Miege High School
PHOTO: Feature 5A
1st Place — Sophia Johnson, Blue Valley Southwest High School
2nd Place — Ciara Ceballos, Kapaun Mt Carmel Catholic High School
3rd Place — Lauryn Keller, Pittsburg High School
PHOTO: Feature 6A
1st Place — Anna Hellstern, Blue Valley Northwest
2nd Place — Tyler Russell, Shawnee Mission East
3rd Place — Christine Landis, Olathe East
4th Place — Taryn Charrette, Olathe South High School
PHOTO: Photo Gallery 1A/2A
1st Place — Jasa Pankaskie, Altoona Midway USD387
Feedback from the judges: “Work on straightening images and cropping to eliminate distractions.”
PHOTO: Photo Gallery 5A/6A
1st Place — Abigail Shoikhet, Blue Valley Southwest High School
PHOTO: Sports 1A/2A
1st Place — Jasa Pankaskie, Altoona Midway USD387
2nd Place — Jasa Pankaskie, Altoona Midway USD387
PHOTO: Sports 5A/6A
1st Place — Charlotte Walton, Shawnee Mission East
2nd Place — Bree Stuhlsatz, Derby High School
3rd Place — Evie Tindell, Mill Valley High School
4th Place — Zoe Varner, Blue Valley West High School
5th Place — Zella Handzel, Shawnee Mission East
6th Place — Zac Russell, Shawnee Mission East
Feedback from the judges: “For me, the best sports photos capture great action as well as great moments and tell great stories. Charlotte’s photo had a great moment that told a unique, specific story for the reader to engage with. It had lots of detail and outstanding use of leading lines, gesture and emotion in the image.”
Quarter 4 Writing Winners
WRITING: Features 5A/6A
1st Place — Christopher Long, Shawnee Mission East
2nd Place — Macy Williams, Shawnee Mission North High School
3rd Place — Josh Sopha, Olathe South High School
4th Place — Harper Ward, Shawnee Mission Northwest
5th Place — Alexandra Cazarez, Renee Lundy, Blue Valley Northwest
Feedback from the judges: “The winner tells an engaging story. It leads with a time element in a crisp narrative, quickly supported by key background and a direct quote from the primary source.”
WRITING: News 5A/6A
1st Place — Camille Carrington, Natalia Blas, Olathe South High School
2nd Place — Shriya Shah, Blue Valley Northwest
3rd Place — Phoebe Morris, Lawrence Free State High School
4th Place — Addy Newman, Shawnee Mission East
Feedback from the judges: “The best entries had a clear focus, conveyed an important story and answered all of readers’ relevant questions through research and interviewing. “
WRITING: Opinion (Editorials, Columns or Reviews) 5A/6A
1st Place — Avni Bansal, Shawnee Mission East
2nd Place — Olivia Perocho, Shawnee Mission Northwest
3rd Place — Cal Bierl, Mill Valley High School
Feedback from the judges: “Remember to think about how your columns or editorials apply to the lives of your audience — your classmates.”
WRITING: Sports (newspaper or yearbook) 3A/4A
1st Place — Laina Vossen, Bishop Miege High School
Feedback from the judges: “Relevant stats help elevate sports reporting. Think of leads as a promise to readers and deliver on that promise.”
WRITING: Sports (newspaper or yearbook) 5A/6A
1st Place — Caroline Beal, Shawnee Mission East
2nd Place — James Guyer, Kapaun Mt Carmel Catholic High School
3rd Place — Kayla Chege, Shawnee Mission Northwest
4th Place — Jacob Corpus, Blue Valley Northwest
Feedback from the judges: “The winning story was long, but it flowed well and was easy to read.”
WRITING: Yearbook Copy 3A/4A
1st Place — Laina Vossen, Bishop Miege High School
Feedback from the judges: “Word choices placed the reader in the middle of the event.”
WRITING: Yearbook Copy 5A/6A
1st Place — Oliver Yeung, Olathe East
2nd Place — Angel Eze, Olathe East
3rd Place — Kendall Lai, Blue Valley Southwest High School
4th Place — Joselyn Contreras Ballesteros, Shawnee Mission North High School
5th Place — Collin House, Shawnee Mission South High School
Feedback from the judges: “Best stories drew readers in, made good use of quotes and sources, and painted pictures with words. Review the use of AP Style with regard to numbers.”