The Red ‘n’ Green won 25 awards in the Wisconsin Newspaper Association (WNA) conference, including eight first place awards. The WNA hosted its yearly competition on March 5, at the Madison Concourse Hotel. This contest allows student journalists from both high school and college newspapers to submit articles and other media.
“The contest is great for student journalists, especially with the lure of possibly winning awards. Students, for instance, the Writing For Pubs kids, can see how us staff win our hard-earned awards and want to apply themselves to do so as well,” Editor-in-Chief Taylor Van Ornum said. “By learning newer journalistic techniques in social media or AI, they can implement those ideas when they transition into The Red ‘n’ Green later in the semester.”
The contest has multiple divisions and prize categories – for different types of stories, use of media, photography, and reporting. Schools pay to enter certain pieces and articles, and have the possibility to win $100 for first place.
“In total, I received five awards. I won two first-place awards for editorial writing division A and B, news/feature photography division B, two second-place awards for feature story and sports story, and one-third place award for news/feature photography,” Social Media Manager Camila Villalobos said.
The contest results are announced at a lunch ceremony, after morning informational sessions and editor boards for both professional and student journalists to participate in and watch.
“The conference was really nice this year. I didn’t like how I didn’t really get breakfast, but that’s just bad on my end. It’s fun, and when you do win, you’re encouraged to continue to write what you’re passionate about,” reporter Emileena Neconish said.
Students are also given feedback on their writing, which helps them grow through their mistakes.
“What I enjoyed most was seeing where others thought my strengths were, this helps me improve my writing skills,” Villalobos said.
The Red ‘n’ Green staff enjoy the opportunity to participate in the contest and attend the conference, and they see it as a great learning experience.
“I think that the conference was a great way for The Red ‘n’ Green to get recognized for the work we put out, and to specifically award our great journalists. By going to specific sessions we were all able to learn something new, whether that be about social media distribution or how to use and avoid AI,” Van Ornum said.
