National Scholastic Press Association has announced its finalists for the 2019 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
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Story | Social Media | Portfolio | Digital Story | Local Climate Change Reporting | Middle School
Laura Horta, Alondra Salgado
No child is left behind when it comes to housing insecurity
Grizzly Gazette
Godinez Fundamental High School
Santa Ana, California
Mikey Bennett, Zak Kerr, Maddie Poch
Partial shutdown: How government employees survived the longest shutdown in American history
The C&G
Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School
Atlanta, Georgia
Abby McCoy, Ryann Redinger
Smoke and mirrors: A look into the connection between teens and Juuls
Play
Maize High School
Maize, Kansas
Anna Cowden
2018 graduate Camille Sturdivant files civil lawsuit against district, others
BVNW News
Blue Valley Northwest High School
Overland Park, Kansas
Ben Henschel, Will Tulp
The price to pay for acceptance
The Harbinger
Shawnee Mission East High School
Prairie Village, Kansas
Melissa Nie, Noah Raaum
Short-lived Twitter account raises questions about diversity
RubicOnline
St. Paul Academy and Summit School
St. Paul, Minnesota
Sarah Zimmerman
Still rising from ruins: Sophomore Andres Cancel’s family recovers from the devastating hurricane that swept over Puerto Rico
North Star
Francis Howell North High School
St. Charles, Missouri
Jenna Barackman, Maleah Downton
Budding business: As more and more states legalize and decriminalize marijuana, the marijuana industry is becoming a staple of the United States economy
Le Journal
Notre Dame de Sion High School
Kansas City, Missouri
Maleah Downton, Kamryn Rogers
The new drunk driving: Distracted driving is the newest epidemic as car accidents grow to be the number one killer of teens
Le Journal
Notre Dame de Sion High School
Kansas City, Missouri
Alexandra Fernholz, Anna Mullins
The nico-teens: the newest teen epidemic has many parents, school officials and government health officials concerned
Spark
Lakota East High School
Liberty Township, Ohio
Nicole Konopelko
Fostering a life: Price tells the story of his two years in the Kansas foster care system, where he spent time at a group home, psychiatric residential treatment facility, contracting office and more
The Booster Redux
Pittsburg High School
Pittsburg, Kansas
Jackie Cameron
A true friendship
The Harbinger
Shawnee Mission East High School
Prairie Village, Kansas
Sarah Zimmerman
Peace, prejudice and positivity: Facing challenges in your environment
North Star
Francis Howell North High School
St. Charles, Missouri
Thomas Birmingham
The top priority
The Kirkwood Call
Kirkwood High School
Kirkwood, Missouri
Alexandra Fernholz
Lending a hand: Four senior engineering students have been building a prosthetic hand for a five-year-old Shawnee student as their capstone engineering project
Spark
Lakota East High School
Liberty Township, Ohio
Tiffany He
Devon chef cooks up a storm on ‘Chopped’
The Spoke
Conestoga High School
Berwyn, Pennsylvania
Morgan Carpenter
A seven-year journey: After spending seven years in a refugee camp in Malawi, immigrant family finds new home in America
Tribal Tribune
Wando High School
Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina
Ariel Kokoricha
Sharing a part of herself: Junior siblings establish deeper bond through brother’s illness, sister’s gift
The Red Ledger
Lovejoy High School
Lucas, Texas
Luke Piazza, Siddhartha Sinha, Eric Yoo
Turning the page to the next chapter
The ReMarker
St. Mark’s School of Texas
Dallas, Texas
Lily Hager
Faces of the Fair: Victor Ramirez
The Red Ledger
Lovejoy High School
Lucas, Texas
Zakir Ahmad, Alex Feng
Gold glory giving back: How three Olympians are establishing a new culture for badminton
Verde
Palo Alto High School
Palo Alto, California
Jules Popiel, Lilly Randolph
She shoots, she scores: Communications freshman Se’maj Griffin becomes the first girl to join the Dreyfoos basketball team
The Muse
A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts
West Palm Beach, Florida
Staff
Concussed: Crash of the cerebrum
The C&G
Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School
Atlanta, Georgia
Sameen Siddiqui
Sports or politics: Despite controversial Nike ad, CHS sports uniforms stay with Nike brand
HiLite
Carmel High School
Carmel, Indiana
Sophie Stephens
Silent tradition: Head coach Garrett Hartwid instilled mandatory quiet time two years ago to provide time for the varsity football team to focus on game day
West Side Story
Iowa City West High School
Iowa City, Iowa
Will Conrad, Deniz Ince
Why not women too?
West Side Story
Iowa City West High School
Iowa City, Iowa
Julie Heng
Olympic coach and daughter working with Huron divers
The Huron Emery
Huron High School
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Jacob LeGesse, Shane LaGesse, James Malone, Michael Melinger
Why do we still play football?
The Globe
Clayton High School
Clayton, Missouri
Matthew Connelly, Andrew Herweck, Charlotte Witt
(Neer)ing success: Players talk about their victory over Vianney during Frozen Four Feb. 11
Pioneer
Kirkwood High School
Kirkwood, Missouri
William Aniol, Colin Campbell, Parker Davis, Luke Nayfa
Empty banners: Coming off of a year with no championships, Lions athletes and coaches combine positive lessons learned
The ReMarker
St. Mark’s School of Texas
Dallas, Texas
Staff
BACR must stay
The Tam News
Tamalpais High School
Mill Valley, California
Staff
Arm teacher with books not bullets
The Eagle Eye
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
Parkland, Florida
Isabella Ank
Parking problems: Parents and students need to be conscious of how and where they are driving on campus
Pep O’ Plant
H.B. Plant High School
Tampa, Florida
Chloe-Amelie Aimkan
Making a mess: Privatizing janitorial services costs more than it saves
Pep O’ Plant
H.B. Plant High School
Tampa, Florida
Audrey Matzke
Disciplinary hearings need student voice
U-High Midway
University of Chicago Laboratory High School
Chicago, Illinois
Staff
Discrimination lawsuit needs more attention, student input
Echo
St. Louis Park High School
St. Louis Park, Minnesota
Maddie Murphy
Send out schedule information earlier
The Rock
Rock Bridge High School
Columbia, Missouri
Staff
Consider limiting AP courses
The Spoke
Conestoga High School
Berwyn, Pennsylvania
Lily Hager
Praising security changes
The Red Ledger
Lovejoy High School
Lucas, Texas
Staff
Things we care about, and you should too
The Apple Leaf
Wenatchee High School
Wenatchee, Washington
Alya Mehrtash
Transgender military ban reflects Trump’s hateful message
Beverly Highlights
Beverly Hills High School
Beverly Hills, California
Emily Sweet
Destigmatizing society’s touchiest subject: female masturbation
The Redwood Bark
Redwood High School
Larkspur, California
Mikey Bennett
Why he’s right
The C&G
Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School
Atlanta, Georgia
Victoria Sponar
Notre Dame outrage proves societal inequities
The Prowler
Starr’s Mill High School
Fayetteville , Georgia
Mystika Allison-Barnes
Black 365: How Black History Month can limit the black community and why we shouldn’t let it
The Mission
Shawnee Mission North High School
Overland Park, Kansas
Logan Crews
We’re still here
The Kirkwood Call
Kirkwood High School
Kirkwood, Missouri
Atiyah Lane
Teach my history, too
The Rock
Rock Bridge High School
Columbia, Missouri
Anna Biddle
The sleeping giant
Spark
Lakota East High School
Liberty Township, Ohio
Noura Jabir
You’re not racist? Then stop using the N-word
The Review
St. John’s School
Houston, Texas
Pramika Kadari
Ending “smart Asian” stereotypes
The Sidekick
Coppell High School
Coppell, Texas