High school journalists win statewide recognition

The Daily Inter Lake

Glacier High School's newspaper has the second-best Web site in the state.

And Flathead High School's newspaper is the third-best in Montana.

Those are among the verdicts from the Montana Journalism Education Association, which recently announced its 2009 contest winners.

Glacier's student newspaper, The Howl, took second place in Web site design for its site, http://www.sd5.k12.mt.us/ghs/howl/Index.html.

The site still was unpolished when the awards were announced four weeks ago, adviser Ted Burnham said. Since the award, Glacier junior Ethan West, who created the site, has used his study hall nearly every day to improve the site and has signed up for journalism and yearbook next year.

"Ethan started this as an independent study project but is now dedicated to making it the top Web site in the state," Burnham said.

Flathead High School's student newspaper, The Arrow, took third place in the Class AA Pacesetter category, which recognizes overall quality.

"It's really exciting for us to be among the pacesetters this year," second-year adviser Vicky Hyde said. "There are some very strong programs in the state, and it is a great honor to be considered among the best."

Flathead also finished first place in Enterprise Reporting for a four-page section on teen sex. Junior Madison Evans - who will be the editor of The Arrow and The Flathead (the school yearbook) next year - took second in feature writing for a story about Ian Hineman, a 17-year-old Flathead student who died of carbon monoxide poisoning in December.

Senior Meagan Hash took first place for Sports Event Reporting, and junior Katherine Ohlson won a second-place Sports Photography award.

Flathead's yearbook staff also won several awards for the 2008 annual. Student editor Ashley Wells-Wood took second for cover design and shared second place for theme development - "We are THE legacy" - with Samantha Iannucci.

Iannucci received honorable mention for page design in the academics section and third place for page design in the sports section. Maddy Evans received honorable mention for her academics section spread of the school's custodial and cafeteria staff. Billy Backer's club spread on the Scrabble and swing dance clubs took third, as did Brie Gillespie's people spread.

Flathead also took third place in advertising design.

Glacier's first-ever yearbook, "A Year to Remember," took honorable mentions in cover and headline design.

Editor Emily Madeiros received third place for page design in the sports section and honorable mention for page design in the academics section.

Glacier's 2009 yearbook will be available May 27. Flathead's comes out May 26.

Copies of last year's books are available at both schools.