THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 28, 1996 TAG: 9606280041
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KIA MORGAN ALLEN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 130 lines
IT DOESN'T TAKE a miracle to piece together an award-winning high school newspaper.
Sure, there will be conflicting personalities. An editor, who will constantly sing ``horribly'' while she pushes deadline, like co-editor Ali Velazquez. And another who considers herself to be sarcastic, like Manteo High's co-editor Meredith Felton. By the ``grace of God'', as Meredith says, the two get along.
In their newsroom, even with the distraction of blaring MTV videos, plenty of grub and Dr Peppers, one thing is certain: The team honored as the best overall newspaper in the 1996 High School Newspaper Writing and Graphics Contest didn't need a miracle, just the dedicated, eclectic staff that made it happen.
The local newspaper writing and graphics competition extends to schools in Hampton Roads and northeastern North Carolina, where Manteo High is located. Sponsored by The Virginian-Pilot and Norfolk State University's Department of Mass Communications and Journalism, students compete for cash awards and journalism supplies. First-place winners receive plaques and all entrants are given certificates. The contest promotes and encourages journalism careers.
And Manteo High's paper, Sound to Sea, is something to see. In addition to being named the top student paper for the second year in a row, staffers won awards in the sports, graphics, news and feature categories. They tackled serious and sensitive issues. They wrote about things that affect their lives like date abuse, the debate about the Confederate flag, self-esteem and drugs.
They also wrote about students like Michael Draper, a deaf teenager featured in Ali's award-winning piece, ``Breaking Through the Sound Barriers.''
``He was hearing-impaired, profoundly deaf. He basically tried to fit in the high school and get treated normally by teachers and students. It's the same thing everyone else goes through, but just because he's deaf makes it harder,'' Ali said.
Ali, a senior, captured first-place awards in news and features.
Evie Daniels won second place in news, Mike Litwin placed second in graphics, and Meredith placed third in sports.
The combination of strong writing and interesting layout made Sound to Sea stand out.
``It was very professionally done,'' said Marvin Lake, contest judge and coordinator and director of recruitment at The Virginian-Pilot. ``The stories were well-written. The paper was aesthetically pleasing and showed very good news judgment. When you pick up the paper you like what you see.''
It wasn't easy to produce that kind of a publication. Many late nights, when others went home to enjoy the luxury of sleep, the Sound to Sea staff saw nothing but their blinding computer screens and blank pages that had to be filled before sunrise. To break the monotony, they snacked, they sang and filled the room with banter. In the end, they had a paper that came close to perfection.
``The latest I've stayed at school was until 1 a.m., and I got up for school the next day,'' Meredith said. ``My mom thinks it's pretty rewarding.''
So does the newspaper's adviser.
``Mrs. Sawyer is a perfectionist,'' Ali said. ``If she sees one thing on the pages that's wrong, she will pull it up, correct it and print it out again.''
That's pretty much the way it works, said Robin Sawyer, the newspaper's adviser. ``Everything has to be done right or not done at all,'' she said.
This year, 121 individual entries were received from students. The entries were judged based on variety and quality of content with emphasis on writing, timeliness and relevance. Judges also considered reader interest, story placement, layout, graphics and design.
Those who judged the competition concluded that Manteo's paper could take on even tougher competition.
``Sound to Sea is a fine example of a high school newspaper,'' said Angela Robertson, journalism instructor and adviser to Norfolk State University's school newspaper, The Spartan Echo. ``I think it can compete with many of the college newspapers in the area.''
``They were the clear winner last year - their first as a contestant,'' Lake said. ``So good, in fact, that several judges last year were skeptical at first whether the paper actually represented the students' work. When they were satisfied it did, they were even more impressed.
``There was no paper that came close to snaring the prize, which isn't to say many of the other papers aren't good,'' Lake added. ``The real challenge the judges faced was deciding what papers were second and third in the overall category. We went back and forth on that a couple of times.'' MEMO: 1996 CONTEST WINNERS
OVERALL WINNERS:
First place, $500, Sound to Sea of Manteo High, Robin Sawyer, adviser
Second place, $300, Falcon Press of Frank W. Cox High, Susan
Buchanan, adviser
Third place, $100, The Spectator of Granby High, Harold Whisman,
adviser
INDIVIDUAL WINNERS:
News
First place - Ali Velazquez, senior, Manteo High, for ``War zone''
Second place - Evie Daniels, senior, Manteo High, for ``Tick, tick''
Third place - Katina Apelt, senior, Granby High, for ``Parental
responsibility law gets mixed reaction''
Features
First place - Ali Velazquez, senior, Manteo High, for ``Breaking
through the sound barriers''
Second place - Katie Clark, junior, Cox High, for ``City targets
Shore Drive''
Third place - Nicole Cruise, senior, Currituck County High, for
``Date violence, abuse - Could it happen to you?''
Sports
First place - Rachel Gerloff, senior, Granby High, for ``Undefeated
Martin wins state championship''
Second place - Ashleigh Etheridge, junior, Maury High, for ``Admirals
hope for a big win''
Third place - Meredith Felton, senior, Manteo High, for ``Respect
between coaches, officials help both do their jobs''
Photo
First place - Christoph Hecking, junior, Granby High
Second place - Christine Franzik, junior, Western Branch High
Third place - Katie Clark, junior, Cox High
Graphics
First place - Porter H. Mason III, Cox High, for ``Commentary''
Second place - Mike Litwin, senior, Manteo High, for ``Display of the
Confederate flag stirs many emotions in observers, owners''
Third place - Aaron Zillner, junior, Great Bridge High, for
``Revenues for resort grows''
Editorial
First place - Heather Anderson, senior, Salem High, for ``Do guys
affect the self-esteem of girls?''
Second place - Jessica Carver, junior, Great Bridge High, ``Age
discrimination hurts''
Third place - Natalie Nash, junior, Granby High, ``Granby's bathroom
blues'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Drew Wilson, The Virginian-Pilot
Manteo High School's newspaper staff gathers around editor Norwood
Webster, seated in the lounge chair referred to as "his throne."
Teacher/advisor is at lower right. by CNB