Crown Point High School Inklings newspaper students, Alaa Abdeldaiem and Maggie Gelon, have both been recognized by three separate national press organizations. Four other newspaper students have also earned honors on the national level.
Both Abdeldaiem and Gelon earned a top ten national finalist spot in the National Scholastic Press Association’s competition. Abdeldaiem earned honorable mention for national Sports Story of the Year for her feature on Hannah Albrecht and Gelon earned honorable mention for national Front Page Design of the Year for the front page from last April’s edition of Inklings. Both were honored at the NSPA convention in Washington, D.C. last week. Their work is displayed on the NSPA’s website http://studentpress.journ.umn.edu/nspa/.
“All of those entered in the national contest had incredible work. To be included among such a group of writers is beyond rewarding,” Abdeldaiem said. “It fills me with a sense of accomplishment to be recognized for doing something I love. Hannah was an awesome subject with a great story and I was happy to be able to capture that in my writing.”
They also both earned a Gold Key in Quill and Scroll’s 2014 International Writing contest; Abdeldaiem for sports writing and Gelon for news writing.
In addition, they both (and two others) received national honors from another national press organization, this time the Columbia Scholastic Press Association out of Columbia University in New York City. Abdeldaiem took a second place for overall sports page design portfolio; Gelon took a third in front page design portfolio and an honorable mention in feature page design; and Susan Reed and senior Evi Lovin took first in full page feature photo story. There were over 11,400 entries.
Joining Abdeldaiem, Alex Stack and Tina Winfrey took honorable mentions and Lovin an excellent in the Journalism Education Association’s Write-Off competition last week in Washington D.C. in the categories of sports writing, photo illustration/infographic design, front page design, and photo portfolio, respectively.
Seniors Abdeldaiem and Winfrey are current co-editors-in chief of the Inklings; Gelon is last year’s editor and is currently a freshman at Indiana University as is Susan Reed. Lovin is a senior and Stack is a junior.
Inklings adviser Julie Elston said, “For students to be recognized as among the nation’s best is impressive and I am certainly proud of them. They all strive to continuously develop their talents, are such great students, and represent Crown Point in a wonderful manner.”