Good news could win in national contest
It turns out this good news beat is grabbing national attention.
Not my good news columns, mind you, but documenting positive, uplifting news could win a pair of writers at Hersey High School in Arlington Heights a national award.
Jackie Tortorello, now in her first year at Harper College, and Hersey senior Andrea Perkins, both of Arlington Heights, learned recently that an article they cowrote last December for the school newspaper, could be a winner.
Their story on all the random acts of kindness being carried out by different Hersey clubs, is a finalist in the news division for "Story of the Year" honors by the National Scholastic Press Association.
Perkins and other Hersey students will travel in November with their teacher, Janet Levin, to the Journalism Education Association's fall convention in Washington, D.C., to learn how the story measures up to other top contenders.
A first place award could win them a $1,000 Brasler Prize, as judged by Wayne Brasler of University High School in Chicago.
Their story, "Caring Clubs" ran in the school's December 2008 edition of The Correspondent, and it caught Levin's eye immediately.
Levin says the story ran during a busy time for the news staff. That same week, Hersey sophomore Monika Skrzypowski had been fatally struck by another student, who was charged with reckless homicide, aggravated DUI and leaving the scene of an accident.
It also was the same week that former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich resigned.
By contrast, Perkins and Tortorello had written an in-depth story that covered service projects - both in the community and overseas - going on across the school.
"We did so many interviews and got so much good information," Perkins says. "It turned out to be quite lengthy, but we broke it up by giving each club their own little breakout story, sort of. I think that really helped people read all of it."
They described everything from two students who had raised money to build a school in Angola, to English teacher Matt Michelin's teacher exchange in Uganda, to the Latin American Student Organization's parties for the underprivileged.
"We wanted to show all the good that was going on in our school that people might not realize," Tortorello says.
They even interviewed the football coach to learn about the community projects the players had carried out quietly, as well as the yearbook staff, who had traveled to Clearbrook to spend time with developmentally disabled clients.
"I was amazed at how much I learned," says Levin, "and how enjoyable it was to read."
She immediately submitted the story to the Story of the Year contest, which is co-sponsored by the American Society of News Editors.
The selection committee bases its findings on the value and importance of the story, quality of the reporting and quotes, quality of writing and editing, and credibility and leadership.
In her 25 years at Hersey as the paper's adviser, Levin has seen only one other student place among top stories nationally. In 2007, graduate Dan Diaz won first place for his story in the diversity division.
At the same National Journalism Conference, Levin will pick up the Medal of Merit Award, recognizing her dedication to scholastic journalism throughout her career.