Judging has wrapped up, and scores are in. From more than 3,400 entries across the 26 individual award categories, approximately 7 percent — 258 entries — were selected as finalists.
The entire judging process spanned over two months and was completed by a judging staff of 15 experienced journalism professionals and collegiate media advisers. NSPA would like to extend a special thank you to the Chicago Headline Club and Universal UClick for organizing additional judging teams to help out with scoring several individual award categories.
All judges were very thankful to be a part of the process. Many stated it was a pleasure being able to see all of the amazing work done by students who will make outstanding professional journalists.
Overall, the quality of entries for this year’s competition were best summed up by one Story of the Year judge who noted, “Wow! I have no doubt that American journalism will be in good hands in the future. So many of the entries I read were of professional quality that it was extremely difficult to select the top 10. I have judged professional writing contests that didn’t have as many worthy entries as this group.”
Judges also wrote comments explaining the strengths of each ranked piece, as well as constructive criticism for how to improve. These more detailed notes for entries will be released after official rankings are disclosed.
As many judges recognized in their comments, every entry had evidence of hard work and talented staffs behind the pieces. NSPA would like to commend all publications for this and thank those schools that submitted for helping us to recognize top-notch student work.
Congratulations again to all of the 2016 NSPA Individual Award finalists. Official winner rankings will be announced at the JEA/NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention in Indianapolis on Nov. 10-13.