HILLSBOROUGH: High school’s ‘Voice’ wins state press awards

By Eileen Oldfield, Staff Writer
   Hillsborough High School’s newspaper, The Voice, can add “award-winning” to its accomplishments after two of the paper’s staff received awards from the Garden State Scholastic Press Association in October.
   Senior Staff Writer Ken Lin received a third-place award in the signed opinion category, A division, for his piece, “What’s Left of Student Rights: Recent Policies Create Challenges.”
   Jordan Mazza, a Class of 2008 graduate, received a second-place award in the layout and design category for a magazine-style features insert called “Summer Styles,” which was separate from the regular paper.
   ”I believe that winning these awards validates their efforts and encourages the idea that their work in class does matter and, in fact, can compete with the other journalism programs in the state,” said Stacey Gerst, English teacher and the newspaper adviser. “It builds the reputation of the newspaper, giving their classmates something to strive for in their own efforts on the paper.”
   Judging criteria for the signed opinion category include topic angle; emphasis on exposition and analysis; a strong introduction, discussion and conclusion; an eye-catching headline; adequate proof to support arguments; avoidance of unnecessary rhetoric, slang or wordy phrases; whether the piece appears to be written in anger, haste or impatience; whether the piece whines, nags, sneers, grumbles, complains, displays bias, intolerance or poor sportsmanship; whether the piece backs away from supporting desirable but unpopular causes or examining controversial issues; does not play up trite, hackneyed or overworked topics; and whether the piece uses the second person.
   ”I wasn’t really expecting it at the time,” Ken said of his award. “I just didn’t think it was as good as the judges thought. It made me reconsider the level of writing and how good it was. Maybe I’m underestimating myself, and I’m thinking too critically of my writing.”
   Ken said he joined the paper to voice his opinions regarding several issues, a mentality which drove him to write his award-winning piece.
   Noting changes in the school atmosphere, including a new random drug testing policy, confiscated electronics, blocking students from checking their e-mail and policies monitoring the restrooms and the student outcry that died too quickly, Ken hoped his piece would rekindle the students’ spark.
   ”I think a lot of people weren’t taking these things seriously,” Ken said. “… I just wanted to raise some sort of question to get people thinking.”
   Judging criteria for the layout and design category included how the pages create reader interest, the dominance of the page’s central element, balance between text, space, headline size and photos, the artwork’s relation to the story, headline format and including the page number, paper name and date on each page.
   ”I was honored to learn that we won second place in the state,” said Mr. Mazza, now a journalism student at New York University. “Now that I’m in college, I hadn’t thought about the piece in a while so it was a nice surprise to hear the news.”
   He added, “I knew that, design-wise, it was the most ambitious edition The Voice had ever done, but I thought it was worth a try. I was hoping that we would do well, but I knew that the competition was tough.”
   Jordan’s love for writing drew him to the paper and helped him find his passion, he said. While designing the Summer Styles section, Jordan hoped to present something unique and more feature-oriented.
   ”Some students told me they didn’t even realize Summer Styles was from the school paper; they actually thought it was a professional publication,” Jordan said. “That was the best compliment I could’ve hoped for as a journalist.”
   The school’s 10-page paper circulates monthly with the rookie reporters covering events at the school and district events, like policy changes, that affect the school. Staffed by 23 students from the sophomore, junior and senior classes, the paper covers news, world and community events, feature stories, op-ed, reviews and entertainment and sports. Often, the beats include covering events the school’s clubs host, guest speakers and unique class projects, Ms. Gerst said.
   ”The paper offers them a pretty realistic experience because they can really see the impact of something that is published and put out to a larger audience,” Ms. Gerst said. “The paper is not an in-class project. If students misspell a name, misquote an individual or inaccurately report information, there are real consequences (just like in professional publications), and students need to take full responsibility for them.”
   She added, “I think at first they are surprised by the reaction they get when something like that happens. They quickly learn that once something is in print and goes out to an audience, it assumes a sense of permanence.”