Review-Journal honors Clark County’s best high school journalists

Henderson’s Foothill High School and Summerlin’s Faith Lutheran High School took home the top prizes in the 44th annual Las Vegas Review-Journal High School Journalism Awards.

Foothill’s Hillside Hotwire won best newspaper, as well as the top two places in best page one design.

“As fine a student publication as we’ve ever seen,” the Review-Journal judges wrote of the Hotwire. “If we were students at Foothill, we would save every edition, tuck them in our yearbooks and save them forever.”

Faith Lutheran High School won the best news website category, with judges praising the aesthetic and ease of use of the Crusader Chronicle site.

“Overall, the website is a perfect mix of multimedia content including photos, videos and articles,” the Review-Journal judges wrote of the Chronicle. “The students take an extra step to connect with their peers through social media to include them in their coverage.”

The Hillside Hotwire was represented in several other categories, including five second-place awards and three third-place awards. Foothill’s Rexi Oh also won first place for best feature story.

The winners were announced via livestream at noon on Monday.

“The Review-Journal’s long tradition of recognizing the best in high school journalism was especially fulfilling this year,” Review-Journal Executive Editor Glenn Cook said Monday. “We had paused the program because of the pandemic and, in bringing it back this year, were thrilled to see such high-quality student journalism throughout the valley.”

Sunrise Mountain nets most first-place finishes

Basic High School’s Lone Wolf placed second in the best newspaper category, while Silverado High School’s Silverado Star rounded out the category in third place.

Tishie Nyitray from Southwest Career Technical Academy won first place in the best news story category with “First Monkeypox case reported in CCSD school.”

“Well-sourced, strong news reporting,” the judges wrote. “We liked the enterprise angle of looking at the possibility of communal fabrics transmitting the disease, and including both officials’ and students’ sides.”

Sunrise Mountain High School’s student newspaper, the Sunrise Mountain Echo, won first place for best editorial, best illustration, best editorial cartoon, best sports news story and best entertainment story.

The Echo also won third place in best page one design and an honorable mention for best news story.

The InvestiGator, Green Valley High School’s magazine, won four first-place awards: best sports feature, best advertisement, best news photo and best photo illustration. Green Valley also added five second-place awards, three third-place awards and an honorable mention to its tally.

Best headline went to the staff at Basic High School with the entry, “Square root, round ball.”

“Solid wordplay that juxtaposes math and tennis, speaking to the new athletic director’s two passions,” the judges wrote. “This could have been a straightforward, boring headline and is so much better for this more creative approach while still conveying the news of the story.”

Contact David Wilson at dwilson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @davidwilson_RJ on Twitter.