Olympian earns dozens of honors

Despite the challenges the 2020-2021 school year presented, staff members of Castro Valley High School’s Olympian newspaper persevered and won 27 awards for journalism excellence. 

Editors-in-chief Tiffany Ho and Jeanette Wallis are responsible for four and five awards respectively in categories such as news writing, graphic design, and illustration. Both three-year veterans, they have worked together throughout the year to manage The Olympian on its several platforms: newspaper, social media, and website. 

“Journalism has been such a fun class because I’ve had so many wonderful experiences and opportunities,” Ho said. “My three years in this class have really challenged me to improve my public speaking skills and my writing skills, which will be beneficial in college and beyond.” Ho will continue on to UC Berkeley in the fall. 

Senior Malin Johansson led the class with six awards, including a news photography award from the Journalism Education Association of Northern California (JEANC), two awards from California News Publishers Association (CNPA), and three from California Press Women (CPW). 

Johansson also speaks positively about her experience in the class. “It’s interesting to meet community members; there are a lot of people that I never would have had the opportunity to meet if it weren’t for these articles that we write,” she said. 

Additional award recipients include senior Hannah Pilgrim, page editor, who won three awards including an enterprise news story honor from CNPA. One of her favorite memories as part of The Olympian was interviewing Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley. 

Feature editor Miguel Bernas refined his writing skills throughout his two years in journalism and brought home three awards. In the fall he will attend the University of Southern California. 

On top of individual awards, the full Olympian staff won both general excellence in print and online awards from CNPA. All stories can be found online at www.cvhsolympian.com. 

Castro Valley High School Journalism award winners, 2020-2021

Milagros Aquino: enterprise news story, California News Publishers Association (CNPA); news writing, CNPA; news story, California Press Women (CPW)

Megan Baldwin: news video, CPW; news photography, CPW

Miguel Bernas: enterprise news story, CNPA; news writing, CNPA; news story, CPW

Victoria Ceaser: outdoors writing, Outdoor Writers Association of California (OWAC)

Austin Coffelt: Olympian Reporter of the Year

Josie de la Torre: outdoors writing, OWAC; column writing, CNPA

Tiffany Ho: graphic design, CPW; illustration, CNPA; Olympian Editor of the Year; Olympian Hall of Fame

Andrew Hui: graphic design, Journalism Education Association of Northern California (JEANC); graphic design, CPW

Malin Johansson: news photography, JEANC; news photography, CPW; environmental reporting, CPW; enterprise news story, CNPA; news writing, CNPA; news story, CPW

Brooke Kundert: review writing, CPW

Leo Lin: enterprise news story, CNPA; news writing, CNPA; news story, CPW

Elena Lottich: news video, CPW

Hannah Pilgrim: enterprise news story, CNPA; news writing, CNPA; news story, CPW

Katy Siler: feature photography, CNPA

Alex Tam: column writing, CNPA

Nikita Thomas: sports writing, CPW; Olympian Hall of Fame

Ethan To: News story, JEANC

Jeanette Wallis: enterprise news story, CNPA; news writing, CNPA; news story, CPW; Olympian Editor of the Year; Olympian Hall of Fame

Amanda Wong: political cartoon, Quill and Scroll

Full staff: general excellence in print, CNPA: general excellence online, CNPA