Student journalists win 16 regional awards

Release Date: June 5, 2018

Contacts: T. Andrew Wahl, Journalism & Media Communications faculty/Adviser for The Clipper, 425-388-9419; awahl@everettcc.edu

Photo: The Clipper staff winners of the 2018 PNAJE competition standing in front of The Clipper office. Back row: Tristan Newsome (left), Laura Campbell and Derek Williams. Middle row: Nataya Foss (left), Connor Roestel, John Yeager and Morgan Hoyt. Front row: Katja Wahl (left) and Emely Salvador. 

EVERETT, Wash. – Everett Community College student journalists won 16 awards from the Pacific Northwest Association of Journalism Educators for their work with the college’s student media organization, The Clipper.

The PNAJE competition was open to community colleges from Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

This year’s group saw strong performance from its leadership team, with every editor earning at least one award. 

Managing Editor-Digital Nataya Foss scored two awards, earning both a third place and an honorable mention in the general-news reporting category. Clipper Managing Editor-Print Morgan Hoyt won a first place award in news photo. Clipper Editor-In-Chief John Yeager brought home a third place award in sports photo. 

Katja Wahl, managing editor-visuals won the sixth PNAJE award of her academic career, adding a third place for portrait photography. Connor Roestel, sports editor, won a second place award for sports reporting, while Social Media Manager Laura Campbell scored an honorable mention for multimedia storytelling.

EvCC journalism instructor T. Andrew Wahl, The Clipper’s faculty adviser, is impressed that all of this year’s editors were also award winners. 

“So often editors get knee-deep in the challenge of managing a publication. It was awesome to see a group so committed to journalism that they were able to create space for each other to do original and award-winning work,” he said. “This was a staff that led by example.”

The Clipper’s other PNAJE winners included Inessa Grishchenko, Emma Kilgore, Anthony Murray, Tristan Newsome, Derek Williams and Joanne Wu.

EverettClipper.com was named the third best website and The Clipper staff earned a third-place for overall publication sweepstakes, meaning they earned the third-highest points in the competition based on all the awards they won.

Yeager was happy to see the staff working hard to make The Clipper grow by continuing to focus on digital media and converting the print edition to a magazine format. 

“Moving over to magazine made it so that the showcase of our best work was elevated and was a lot more reader-friendly,” he said. 

For more information about The Clipper, the staff’s recent awards or EvCC’s Journalism & Media Communication program, contact Wahl at awahl@everettcc.edu or 425-388-9419.