The Winners!

Young writers and editors are honored at Student Publishing Award ceremony in Washington, D.C.

They wrote remarkable essays. They edited excellent publications. They took terrific photographs. And then, they won awards.

Last month, more than a dozen students attended a ceremony to honor their prize–winning entries in Weekly Reader's 2009 Student Publishing Contest. The students, who ranged in age from nine to 18, accepted their awards at a lunchtime event in Washington, D.C. They came to D.C. from many parts of the U.S., including Colorado, California, and Florida.

"This is a great honor," said 12-year-old reporter and columnist Symone Brown. Symone represented the J. Hop Times newspaper of John Hopkins Middle School in St. Petersburg, Florida. The J. Hop Times won for best middle–school publication. "It feels good to be recognized for all of our hard work," Symone told an audience of about 200 publishers and educators.

Two other school newspapers won for 'best publication.' The elementary winner was the Manatee Messenger of Melrose Elementary, also in St. Petersburg, Florida. Jaquel Weller, a fifth-grade reporter on the paper, accepted that award.

The high school winner was the Blake Beat of James H. Blake High School. Ten students from the school, which is in nearby Silver Spring, Maryland, came to the ceremony.

The co-editors of the paper, Kelly Shih and Tomiko Mason, thanked their teacher adviser, Kevin Keegan, who was not at the ceremony. They later explained that "Mr. Keegan holds us to deadlines–he has to, or the paper would never come out."

The winning schools received $500 checks and a plaque. Winning student editors were also awarded tickets to the Newseum, an interactive museum in Washington. In addition, one student and his or her parent from each winning school, plus a teacher, was given free roundtrip airfare to the awards ceremony. That was courtesy of Continental Airlines, the contest's exclusive airline sponsor.

What the Writers Won

Three students won individual awards for non-fiction writing.

Julianne Hensel of Colorado topped the Elementary category for "Fourth Grader Prepares for Black Belt Testing." In that article, she reported on 9-year-old Brooke Perela's experiences learning tae kwan do, a Korean form of martial arts (such as judo and karate). Julianne accepted the award with her parents.

Felice Luu of California was the middle-school winner. Her article "One Fast Moment," told the story of a car accident in 2008 that she and her parents had been in together.

Felice was accompanied at the awards by her parents and by her seventh–grade teacher, Tessa Villaseñor. Ms. Villaseñor had inspired a number of her students to enter the contest. The high-school winner, Maggie Millner, did not attend the ceremony and was sent her award. Her prize-winning essay was called "Nova," and was about her relationship with her grandmother.

The students honored for their non-fiction writing each won $500 for themselves, a plaque, and free round–trip airfare to Washington for themselves and a parent. Their articles have been published on the Weekly Reader website.

All winning students received their awards from CNN senior correspondent Candy Crowley, who was the keynote speaker at the ceremony. Crowley told the students that people were the heart of good journalism. "Facts are only a part of a story, she said: "If the truth is not there, you don't have a true story, a true paper, a true publication – even if all the facts are true.'"

This was "such an uplifting event," said teacher Tessa Villaseñor. "I know Felice and I left that day 'back in love' with the power of writing."

The Student Publishing Awards are sponsored by Weekly Reader and the Association of Educational Publishers. Weekly Reader will offer the competition again in 2010; details will be posted on this website in September.