2019 Digital Story of the Year finalists

National Scholastic Press Association has announced its finalists for the 2019 Digital Story of the Year competition.

All finalists will be recognized and the winners announced for the first time in a Saturday afternoon awards ceremony at the National High School Journalism Convention, Nov. 21-24, 2019, at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park.

First- through fifth-place winners will receive plaques, and five honorable mention winners will receive certificates.

Finalists are shown below in alphabetical order by state.

RELATED: 2019 Individual Award Finalists
Photo | Design | Cartoon | Broadcast | Social Justice Reporting |
Story | Social Media | Portfolio | Digital Story | Local Climate Change Reporting | Middle School


Multimedia News Story Package

Cole Eberhard, Madi Loff, Jasmine Romero
Walk Two Moons
Crimson Newsmagazine
Paso Robles High School
Paso Robles, California

Staff
Smoke on the water: Bay Area shelters from Camp Fire smoke
Scot Scoop
Carlmont High School
Belmont, California

Megan Huber, Jordan Del Valle Tonoian
Breaking ground
Eye of the Tiger
Roseville High School
Roseville, California

Molly Litvak, Ellie Orlanski
Flood: All basement classrooms under inches of water after city main breaks
The Boiling Point
Shalhevet High School
Los Angeles, California

Eric Fang, Kathy Fang, Anna Vazhaeparambil, Arushi Saxena
Blue wave rolling: Democratic presidential hopefuls reach out to voters in California Democratic State Convention
Harker Aquila
The Harker School
San Jose, California

Mori Ono
Livonia Robotics Competition: Creativity breaks through
The Communicator Online
Tracy Anderson
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Amanda Kurukulasuriya, Allie Pigg, Jack Speake
Global village enlightens cross-cultural understanding
Bearing News
Rock Bridge High School
Columbia, Missouri

Andrew Rowan
Making MFS history: de la Torre Installed During Rainy Convocation
MFS WordsWorth
Moorestown Friends School
Moorestown, New Jersey

Lucas Barr
Clearing the air: A special report on teens and vaping
Wingspan
Liberty High School
Frisco, Texas

Staff
Midterm mayhem: The impact of politics at St. John’s
Review Online
St. John’s School
Houston, Texas


Multimedia Feature Story Package

Alya Mehrtash, Ava Seccuro
Student pilot finds identity through aviation
Beverly Highlights
Beverly Hills High School

Danielle Bennett, Jordan Del, Valle Tonoian
Roberts speaks the language of children

Eye of the Tiger
Roseville High School

Ayah Ali-Ahmad, Ruth Feng, Shuvi Jha, Dhruvika Randad, Swara Tewari
To build a home: Exploring a local Muslim community
El Estoque
Monta Vista High School

Kathy Fang, Jessie Wang
Meet your teacher: Biology teacher experiences joy of beekeeping
Harker Aquila
The Harker School
San Jose, California

Kristina Rosebrook, Sophie Stephens
Novel conversations: Author Nic Stone
West Side Story
Iowa City West High School
Iowa City, Iowa

Tai Tworek
The struggle for black history visibility within the Ann Arbor Bubble
The Communicator Online
Community High School
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Mimi Geller
Hodges promotes project, uncovers history of racial covenants
RubicOnline
St. Paul Academy and Summit School
St. Paul, Minnesota

Staff
Love in the time of social media
Southwest Shadow
Southwest Career and Technical Academy
Las Vegas, Nevada

Max Goldrich, Michelle Wei
AFYA Holiday Market
Tower
The Masters School
Dobbs Ferry, New York

Evy Apostolou, Rae Walberg
Scanlonville: A place of culture and community
Tribal Tribune
Wando High School
Mount Pleasant, South Carolina


Multimedia Sports Story Package

Phoebe Corgiat, Brighton Garrett
Athletes to keep an eye on
Crimson Newsmagazine
Paso Robles High School
Paso Robles, California

Kimberly Mitchell
Scots swim their way to success
Scot Scoop
Carlmont High School
Belmont, California

Ankit Gupta, Justine Ha, Sreya Kumar, Brandon Ng, Herman Saini
Behind gameday: Exploring how different MVHS sports teams prepare for gameday
El Estoque
Monta Vista High School
Cupertino, California

Jordan Del Valle Tonoian, Cam Medrano
Moffet sticks with childhood passion
Eye of the Tiger
Roseville High School
Roseville, California

Kirubel Mesfin, Josh Pietsch, Noah Semeria, Jack Tarantino
Dynasty: Six state championships, three years, two teams and one school
The North Star
Naperville North High School
Naperville, Illinois

Will Conrad, Deniz Ince
Why not women, too?
West Side Story
Iowa City West High School
Iowa City, Iowa

Abigail Mynahamn
Amplify: AJ Reeves ’18 is on fire in Big East
The Gator
Brimmer and May School
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

James Malone, Michael Melinger, Jacob LaGesse, Shane LaGesse
Why do we still play football?
The Globe
Clayton High School
Clayton, Missouri

Staff
A tour of the trophy case
Eastside
Cherry Hill High School East
Cherry Hill, New Jersey

Jackie Carroll, Kelsey Carroll
Leap of faith: Cold conditions don’t dampen steeplechasers’ efforts at invitational meet
The Red Ledger
Lovejoy High School
Lucas, Texas


Photo Slideshow

Alyssa Hui, Tabitha Mendez
Santa Claus comes to town
El Estoque
Monta Vista High School
Cupertino, California

Kalei Owen
A long course of laughter
The Current
Bear River High School
Grass Valley, California

Shelby Foster
Pantherettes bring home second consecutive state championship
The Prowler
Starr’s Mill High School
Fayetteville, Georgia

Kara Wagenknecht
Boys basketball moves on to state tournament
West Side Story
Iowa City West High School
Iowa City, Iowa

Grace Farley, Sophie Livingston, Abby Prestholdt, Carissa Prestholdt, Ruby Stillman
Homecoming week at a glance
Echo
St. Louis Park High School
St. Louis Park, Minnesota

Cecilia Mohacsi, Taylor Pitzl, Dani Rotert, Stephanie Vince
Purple and White Spirit Fight: Students celebrated the end of spirit week with an all-school field day
Le Journal Live
Notre Dame de Sion High Shool
Kansas City, Missouri

Audrey Berns, Sarah Nash
Global youth strike for climate
The Kirkwood Call
Kirkwood High School
Kirkwood, Missouri

Grace Nguyen
Volleyball wins state semifinals: Leopards down Dripping Springs in 3 sets to lock up 9th state championship appearance
The Red Ledger
Lovejoy High School
Lovejoy, Texas

Ellie Brutsché
Border Brawl football game
The Rider Online
Legacy High School
Mansfield, Texas

Noah Siderhurst
Boys varsity basketball defeats TA 74-55
The Newsstreak
Harrisonburg High School
Harrisonburg, Virginia


Interactive Graphic

Ava Seccuro
The stereotypes surrounding California farming
Beverly Highlights
Beverly Hills High School
Beverly Hills, California

Zachary Khouri
Carlmont students shed light on the abortion debate
Scot Scoop
Carlmont High School
Belmont, California

Naisha Roy
Investigating the real illegal immigration crisis
The Bird Feed
South Forsyth High School
Cumming, Georgia

Noelle Smagala
Stimulated problems: Stimulants cause more harm than good
Metea Media
Metea Valley High School
Aurora, Illinois

Joe Goodman
Boxed out: the exploitation of college athletes
West Side Story
Iowa City West High School
Iowa City, Iowa

Gina Liu
Where to park at Community with only 23 spots
The Communicator Online
Tracy Anderson
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Brooklyn Northcross
Rolling into bowling: Guide to local lanes
The Tower Pulse
Grosse Pointe South High School
Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan

Maddie Meyers
KHS celebrity look-alikes
The Kirkwood Call
Kirkwood High School
Kirkwood, Missouri

Olivia Watts
The free art of ATX
The Shield
McCallum High School
Austin, Texas

Trinity Flaten
Bullying: a national problem
The Talon News
Argyle High School
Argyle, Texas


Podcast

Avery Doan
Aves to Z: Running from the problem
Eagle Valley Student Media
Eagle Valley High School
Gypsum, Colorado

Lars Lonnroth
Happenings of the Halls: School security
Lion
Lyons Township High School
LaGrange, Illinois

Lars Lonnroth
Happenings of the Halls: Drug use at LT
Lion
Lyons Township High School
LaGrange, Illinois

Kate Hyland
Second-semester seniors succumb to senioritis
The Prospector
Prospect High School
Mt. Prospect, Illinois

Jacob Posner, Emma Trone
The Bubble
U-High Midway
University of Chicago Laboratory High School
Chicago, Illinois

Logan Crews
LGBT+ Podcast | LGBT+ students answer anonymous questions
The Kirkwood Call
Kirkwood High School
St. Louis, Missouri

Thomas Birmingham, Izzy Colón
The PolitiCall: Election day
The Kirkwood Call
Kirkwood High School
Kirkwood, Missouri

Emily Harris
The importance of involvement
EagleAir
Nixa High School
Nixa, Missouri

Staff
24 hour challenge 2019
Ritenour Live
Ritenour High School
St. Louis, Missouri

Katie Cronin, Madeline Price, Bess Von der Heydt
Processing changes in the community
The Shakerite
Shaker Heights High School
Shaker Heights, Ohio


Blog

Ryan Blank
Blank Report
BVNW News
Blue Valley Northwest High School
Overland Park, Kansas

Kayla Barry
Kayla’s Korner
The Smoke Signal
Pascack Valley High School
Hillsdale, New Jersey

Katharina Santos
Destination Health
Wingspan
Liberty High School
Frisco, Texas

Townes Hobratschk
Flavor Profiles
The Shield
McCallum High School
Austin, Texas

Max Rhodes
Rhodes traveled
The Shield
McCallum High School
Austin, Texas

Eli Maierson
CineMaierson
The Review Online
St. John’s School
Houston, Texas

Sophia Kontos
Make up your mind
The Review Online
St. John’s School
Houston, Texas

Kevin Pizano, Sam Rooker
Popular predictions: A series
The Newsstreak
Harrisonburg High School
Harrisonburg, Virginia