LTHS’ 'Lion' Newspaper Wins Major Student Journalism Prizes

Lyons Township High School's student newspaper, Lion, has won its third national Pacemaker award in the last five years. Additionally, last year's senior editor, Tripp Stelnicki, had received the national award for Editorial of the Year for an article published in the first Lion issue of the 2009-2010 year

Several Lion staffers travelled to Kansas City, MI, last weekend to the JEA/NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention, hosted by the Journalism Education Association (JEA) and the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA,) the largest gathering of student journalists in the country. At the convention, 4,000 high school journalists attend classes taught by journalism professionals, participate in contests and receive awards for their papers' quality.

The Lion won the Pacemaker for the 2009-2010 school year in the category of Newspaper of 17 Pages or More, one of only eight student newspapers nationally to receive the award. The newspaper entered its best five issues from the year in the contest. Lion also won the award in the '05-'06 and '06-'07 school years.

According to the NSPA website, the Pacemaker award is the organization's "highest honor… based upon the following criteria: design, navigation, writing/editing, graphics and interactivity."

"[The award] says that my students have been able to produce high-quality journalism in a print publication that covers the gambit of everything you could want—design, photography, coverage and content, style," said LTHS teacher Jason Scales, who has been adviser for the Lion for the past eight years.

Scales emphasized that he promotes independence, and that Lion is created almost entirely by the students, all LTHS juniors and seniors. "It shows that they, not me, have produced what is among some of the best in the country," Scales said.

Stelnicki, who is now a freshman at the Missouri School of Journalism, was unable to attend but was informed of his win by text message from his thrilled friends. His champion editorial was written in the wake of the tragic suicide of an LTHS student, Iain Steele, in the summer of 2009, and harshly condemned bullying in the school.

"Lion encourages you to spend a minute considering the depth of horrifying, gut-wrenching devastation even the most seemingly inoffensive or bland acts of cruelty and bullying can wreak," Stelnicki concluded in his piece, the full text of which can be found here. "Consider what's already happened. Enough is enough."

"It doesn't surprise me," Scales said of Stelnicki's win. "Tripp is one of the best opinion writers that I've ever taught in my eight years."

At the conference, the JEA also hosted a write-off competition in several areas, including feature writing and sportswriting. Contestants were awarded prizes for "superior," "excellent" and "honorable mention" categories. Three Lion staffers won the "excellent" award, while co-news editor senior Will Podlewski was one of only two students to receive the "superior" mark in the category of opinion writing. (The topic, coincidentally, was also about bullying—and Podlewski also wrote about Steele, who was a personal friend.)

"I knew we had a good paper last year, and I know the year before that they got kind of snubbed," said Podlewski of the Pacemaker award. "But Tom Meyer, our editor in chief last year, really put in a lot of work and we had a great staff. So I feel very satisfied and kind of vindicated. We earned it." He added that the conference was "the coolest thing ever."

Current Lion editor Christian Holub did have one regret. "The only bummer was that we also entered an issue from this year for the 'best in show' category, and we didn't get anything for that," he said. (LTHS did win a "best in show" at the 2009 convention.) "So that was kind of a downside. But the feeling of the Pacemaker and of Pods [Podlewski] getting 'superior' prevailed."

Lion is a 101-year-old student newspaper of Lyons Township High School, first published in 1910. It is published eight times per year on a four-week production cycle, and consists of two sections: a front section with news, opinion and sports, and an inset called Pulse with features and profiles. It is currently developing an online presence. Many of its students go on to study journalism in college.

Scales made a point that, while the award is an honor, Lion is not about seeking accolades.

"In fact, I de-emphasize it," Scales said. "I tell my students that we're not doing this for the contests. That's not what journalism is about. It's about giving our readers what they want, what they need, and what we think they need.

"It's wonderful to be recognized by this way, but it's not our daily, weekly or monthly goal. We submit the stuff, and if we're recognized, great, and if not, we know we're trying to do our best anyway."