LION staff poses for group photo after award show at Boston convention (photo courtesy of Jason Scales).

A group of 15 LION newspaper students as well as two Tabulae students attended the JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention held in Boston on Nov. 2-5. Students participated in National Media Contests held at the convention.

Award winners from the LION newspaper include: Aero Gartner ‘24 received a Superior in Commentary Writing, Katie Garrity ‘24 received an Excellent in Sports Writing, Jaclyn Cumming ‘24 received an Excellent in News Writing, and Julia Ludden ‘24 received an Honorable Mention in Feature Writing. Additionally, Nina Ivanecevic ‘24 won Honorable Mention for last year’s Story of the Year: Editorial, placing top 10 in that category. 

“We have really strong publication and media programs, and sometimes we just take it for granted,” Tabulae advisor Joseph Maffey said. “To be able to go to a convention and see hundreds of yearbooks and newspapers makes you want to achieve a little bit [more], but also affirms how good the stuff we produce is.”

While Tabulae usually goes to the spring convention, Josie Menna ‘24 and Sydney Matysik ‘24 went alongside this year’s newspaper staff, Maffey said. For work from last year, Menna placed top 10 for Photojournalist of the Year, and Matysik was top 10 for News Photo of the Year. Furthermore, Matysik submitted a portrait photo and received an Honorable Mention and Menna submitted sports reaction photos and won an Excellent award.

“Traditionally, students have done really well in these national contests,” LION Newspaper advisor Jason Scales said. “Students always place, so in a lot of ways we upheld the great tradition of past LT high school journalists.”

A major part of the trip is entering into contests as well as attending seminars, Scales said.

“I definitely learned a lot about journalism,” LION opinions editor Aero Gartner ‘24 said. “I got to go to a seminar that was taught by a newspaper advisor during the Parkland shooting and talked about how to cover tragedy.”

Students are able to study a wide variety of journalism skills, Gartner said. The convention offers vast learning opportunities for participants, such as improving layout and graphics, building better interviewing, and developing writing skills.

“It’s a really beneficial [event] to a newspaper or a yearbook because you learn so much information in a short period of time,” Gartner said. “It’s also really beneficial to go somewhere else and learn. I learned about so many different experiences and [gained] so many different perspectives that I wouldn’t have learned from just a convention in Illinois.”

On top of attending the convention, students went to a Harvard hockey game and visited the Harvard campus, Scales said. 

“I like seeing students outside of the classroom, enjoying themselves in ways you can’t see during school,” he said. “Forming bonds, having fun, and also continuing to study journalism. We’re just really thankful that the LT school board supports the publications this way and helps fund our trips.”

Additionally, Menagerie’s issue from May 2023 took Sixth Place in the Best of Show category for Art/Lit Magazines.