Five LION Newspaper members earned a total of nine national awards at the National High School Journalism Convention held in Chicago the first weekend of November. They competed against student journalists from all over the country.

The four day event is held semi annually and sponsored by the Journalism Education Association (JEA) and the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA). This year the fall convention was held in Chicago and The LION newspaper staff was in attendance. The staff competed in journalism contests on Friday and Saturday as well as attended educational seminars on both friday and saturday.

“[The convention] was a great opportunity for us to see what is happening with other newspapers across the country whether they’re professional, high school or middle school” Managing Editor of Breaking News/Multimedia coverage Lars Lonnroth ‘19 said.

The members of LION attended seminars on different journalism related topics where professional journalists provided advice on how to improve writing and reporting skills.

“I learned the importance of capturing the heart of the story and honing in on the most important details”, News co-editor Harper Hill ‘19 said.

The LION members also participated in writing contests against other student journalists from across the country. The writing contests included newswriting, press law and ethics as well as many other events.

“You realize how well prepared you are coming from LION and LT’s journalistic writing program” News co-editor Mary Okkema ‘19 said. “The [contests] also help a lot because they show your strengths and weaknesses.”

The LION earned a total of nine national awards at the convention. Lonnroth won four of the nine awards including winning fifth place nationally for a podcast about the school walkout last year.

“It was pretty crazy because I didn’t know how to feel” Lonnroth said “it’s so weird to see the work I did get recognized nationally. It was crazy, surreal and fulfilling.”