Newhouse announces winners in 2021 ESSPA Awards competition

Student journalists from across New York State were honored this afternoon with 2021 Empire State School Press Association (ESSPA) Awards. Winners were announced during an online ceremony hosted by Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

The 2021 award winners are:

• Best Overall Yearbook: Brighton High School for “Crossroads”
• Best Overall Layout: Lynbrook High School for “Horizons”
• Best Overall Cover Design: Irondequoit High School for “The Rodequoit”
• Best Illustration: Nadia Alzoubi from Brighton High School for “Trapezoid”
• Best Photograph: Hamza Hassan from Jamesville-Dewitt High School for “Holding Love”
• Best Overall Newspaper: Irondequoit High School for “The Rodequoit”
• Best Written Work in a Newspaper: Jaylyn Fred from Brocton Middle/High School for “Brocton Gets a Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine” in the Brocton Review
• Best Feature Story: Carolyn Heckle from Corning-Painted Post High School for “Digital Divide,” with photo by Graham Simons
• Best Overall Literary Magazine: Briarcliff High School for Briars & Ivy
• Best Written Work in a Literary Magazine: Crystal Richardson from East Meadow High School for “Black Linguistics”
• Best Editorial: Heather Johnston from Brocton Middle/High School for “End Unnecessary Mask Policies” in the Brocton Review
• Best Sports Story: Hannah Anderson from Jamesville-Dewitt High School for “Hard Work Pays Off” in RamPage
• Best Overall TV Show: Tie: East Syracuse Minoa Central High School and Saugerties Senior High School
• Representation in Media Award: Merica Griffin from Corning-Painted Post High School for “An Open Dialogue”
• Adviser of the Year: Karen McCarthy from Briarcliff High School

Newhouse dean Mark J. Lodato and National Scholastic Press Association associate director Gary Lundgren offered remarks. Natasha Alford, vice president of digital content and a senior correspondent at theGrio, was the keynote speaker. Master of ceremonies was Newhouse alumna Natalie Dascoulias ’21, a reporter with Newschannel 9 in Syracuse.

ESSPA supports scholastic journalism through education, resources and recognition. The competition, administered by the Newhouse School, is open to student journalists and faculty advisers from any high school in New York State. For more information, contact Christina Kinsey at cmkinsey@syr.edu.