Winners of the Philadelphia student journalism awards

This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.

The Notebook announced the winners of the ninth annual Philadelphia Student Journalism Awards for high school journalists at its “Turning the Page for Change” event last week. The Notebook recognizes and honors the best work of Philadelphia’s high school newspaper writers and editors during a special awards ceremony at the annual event. This year, illustrations and photography were also included in the honors.

Twelve high schools submitted entries from print and online publications. Notebook staff and volunteers evaluated the submissions and selected a winner in each of four categories. The winners received prizes, including a cash award, and honorable mentions received citations during the Notebook’s event, which was held last Tuesday at University of the Arts, Hamilton Hall.

Here are this year’s winners and honorable mention recipients.

Best School News Reporting: Sokunvichet Long from Masterman High School for “Albanians at Masterman” in Masterman Voices.

• Special citation: Valeria Garcia from Esperanza Academy for “How are 2012 grads now?” in Esperanza Post.

Best Feature Writing: Joceline Rivera from Maritime Academy for “Bravo! ‘Peter Pan’ a Huge Success” in The Maritime Wave.

• Special citation: Abe Musselman from Science Leadership Academy for “SLA Tunes Up for Another Year of Music” in SLA Media.

Best Art: Crystal Mendez from Esperanza Academy for multiple illustrations in Esperanza Post.

• Special citation: Staff of the Centralizer for the photo spread “International Day 2013” in the Centralizer.

Best Commentary Writing: Sam Lovett-Perkins from Science Leadership Academy for “One Door Opens. Another Doesn’t.” in SLA Media.

• Special citation: James Frishkoff from Masterman High School for “Drones and the War on Liberty: An Editorial” in Masterman Voices.