Saturday, May 08, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

JOURNALISM AWARDS: Review-Journal honors high schoolers

Coronado seniors win scholarships

Coronado High School seniors Johnny Driggs, left, and Andrew Chang each receives $2,000 scholarships from Las Vegas Review-Journal General Manager Allan Fleming during the newspaper's annual High School Journalism Awards luncheon Friday at the Rio. Driggs and Chang won the scholarships for their work on the staff of R-Jeneration, the Review-Journal's weekly news section written by teens for teens. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

In his three years as a high school journalist at Coronado High School, Johnny Driggs got to write, learned how to lead his peers and helped crank out his campus newspaper.

On Friday, all that hard work paid off.

Driggs, an 18-year-old senior, was one of two Coronado students each awarded $2,000 scholarships at the 28th annual Review-Journal High School Journalism Awards luncheon.

Driggs and senior classmate Andrew Chang won the scholarships for their work on the staff of R-Jeneration, the Review-Journal's weekly news section written by teens for teens. It is the first time the awards ceremony offered scholarships.

"Our company, for 28 years, has been honoring the students with a sit-down lunch at a nice hotel," said Review-Journal Managing Editor Charles Zobell, who emceed the event at the Rio. "This shows the Review-Journal cares about student journalism. We're taking another step forward by offering scholarships, which we think will help motivate our R-Jeneration team members to do even better."

Driggs said his work for R-Jeneration and at his school newspaper meant more than writing. "I'm sort of shy in normal life. But being the editor of the paper gave me the opportunity to be in charge of things and open up a little bit," he said.

The big winners of the day were student journalists at Green Valley High School, which placed 15 times in the competition's 25 categories and claimed the best newspaper award in its division.

Green Valley also topped the field with five first-place honors.

The Review-Journal also handed out Most Valuable Staffer awards to a student at each of the 26 Clark County high schools that entered the contest.

"We do this (contest) for two reasons: to honor the students who work hard throughout the school year to put out their school newspapers, and secondly, to encourage students to pursue careers in journalism," Zobell said.

Zobell called today's high school journalists talented, energetic and better than their predecessors.

"The high school newspapers of today in Clark County are far better than they were 25 years ago, when I started getting involved in this program as a judge, when I was city editor," Zobell said.

That was seconded by Review-Journal music writer Doug Elfman, who helped judge the competition.

"The experience level you have is nuts," he told students.

Zobell said the newspapers look better than before, but it's the fine print that counts most. "The students are using better topics for stories, topics that appeal more to their audience," he said.

Throughout its history, the competition has produced a number of winners who have gone on to pursue journalism careers, including Green Valley graduate Samantha Clemens, who has been a recent Review-Journal photography intern; and Palo Verde High School alumnus Mark Boyd, who now works for the magazine division of Stephens Media Group, the parent company of the Review-Journal, Zobell said.

Not everybody will follow Clemens and Boyd.

Driggs said he plans to major in film next year at the University of Southern California. And Green Valley co-editor-in-chief Angela Jupp, an 18-year-old senior who won top honors for best news story and best feature story, said she's leaning toward studying pre-med at Barnard College in New York.

But Jupp said there are many life lessons she'll carry with her long after she puts away the keyboard and note pad.

"I have gotten the best experience I could have asked for," she said. "I've met so many people. I've experienced things I wouldn't have experienced if I hadn't been working at the newspaper."