Olympian strikes gold in annual contests

Castro Valley High School journalism students finished the school year on a high note, winning 34 regional, state and national awards.

CVHS journalism students publish The Olympian newspaper and website at cvhsolympian.com. Groups such as Quill and Scroll Society, California Press Women (CPW), California News Publishers Association (CNPA) and Journalism Education Association of Northern California (JEANC) honored Olympian staff members for their writing, photography and videos.

Among the top honors was CNPA’s Best Story Award. Students Ria Panjwani and Hannah Johansson took first place in this competition for their article titled “We all came from somewhere” about how President Trump’s travel ban affected immigrants at CVHS. Panjwani and Johansson also swept the top two awards in CNPA’s column writing competition.

“We’re both proud of that article, so we were really happy when we found out that it won the award,” said Johansson, co-editor-in-chief.

Students Mia Babasyan and Wailea Siler won the staff’s first-ever Press Freedom Award from JEANC for their story about elevated lead levels in school district water sources.

“It’s always so great to receive recognition for work that was difficult to achieve,” said Babasyan, co-editor-in-chief.

Staff members were also honored to win a CNPA Online General Excellence Award. In addition to its main website, The Olympian publishes to a growing audience via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat.

“To expand our social media empire in every direction was a rewarding and enriching experience,” said Panjwani, online editor.

CVHS Olympian 2017-2018 award winners

Mia Babasyan: CNPA, enterprise reporting; JEANC, editorial writing; JEANC, Press Freedom Award; Olympian Editor of the Year; Olympian Hall of Fame

Brittany Bracy: JEANC, feature video; CPW, feature video

Olga Buzueva: CPW, review writing; CPW, illustration

Da Di: CPW, illustration

Lauren Eisenman: JEANC, feature video: CPW, feature video

Pau Gutierrez: Quill and Scroll, sports writing

Stella Ho: Olympian Hall of Fame

Hannah Johansson: CNPA, best writing; CNPA, column writing; CPW, opinion writing; CPW, news story; CPW, news video; JEANC, feature writing; JEANC, video news package; Olympian Editor of the Year; Olympian Hall of Fame

Hayate Moro: JEANC, opinion writing; CPW, opinion writing

Mara Moysen: JEANC, video news package; JEANC, feature video; JEANC, school promo video; CPW, feature video

Derek Neyer: Quill and Scroll, news story

Nathanial Ortiz: CPW, news video

Ria Panjwani: CPW, news story; CNPA, column writing; CNPA, best writing; JEANC, video news package

Emily Salazar: Olympian Hall of Fame

Jacob Schoenfeld: CPW, sports story

Wailea Siler: CNPA, enterprise reporting; CNPA, feature photography; CNPA, sports photography; JEANC, video news package; JEANC, Press Freedom Award; CPW, video news; Olympian Most Valuable Player; Olympian Hall of Fame

Young So: CNPA, sports photo

Rachel Stein: CNPA, feature photo; JEANC, feature video; JEANC, news story

Katelyn Wong: CPW, graphics; CPW, opinion writing

Emma Yin: JEANC, news photo