Clarion leads way with solid design;
Franklin, Griffith, Greenwood earn excel
By Cheryl Pontius
For the IHSPA

Division 2

Hoosier Star:
Clarion from Connersville High School
Editor: Carrie Howell
Adviser: Lisa Morris

Merit Awards:
The Electron from Franklin Community High School
The Panther Press from Griffith High School
Timberlines from Greenwood High School

Judge's Comments:
An excellent paper catering to its audience ­ the students, Clarion offers good front-page design, well designed inside pages, good photo content and clean pages that can breathe.

The Sports Shorts, Club News, and News Briefs provide lots of extra information for your readers in a nicely designed, abbreviated package.

You have good leads, excellent writing and editing throughout the newspaper. Your attention to minor sports also helps draw in those non-sports fans. The paper could incorporate more sports coverage, however.

Areas needing work:
Lack of creative headlines
Poor photo reproduction
Lack of staff editorial

Overall excellent quality and readability.
Hoosier Star Merit Winner: Franklin Community High School
The Electron
Editor: Amber McGowan
Adviser: Carmen Mann

Judge's Comments:
Good front page design that combines text, graphics and art and then adds teasers and a table of contents for a very pleasurable read.

News and feature writing offers outstanding reporting and interviewing from a variety of sources. Excellent editing is obvious throughout the newspaper and makes all stories tighter and much easier to read. Features deal with pertinent topics and are extremely well written (such as the story on Divorce in the Sept. 14 issue).

Good use of infographics, pull quotes and original artwork that add to content and appearance.

Areas needing work:
Poor photo reproduction
Folios that are hard to decipher (i.e., what is Interpretations? It reads like a news page, but sounds like an opinion page)
Lack of creative headlines
Lack of club, sports coverage
Hoosier Star Merit Winner: Griffith High School ­ Panther Press
Editor : Renee Wotkun
Adviser : John Sheehan

Judge's Comments:
Clean, well designed pages and well-written news stories, reviews and editorials make the Panther Press a Merit Winner. News stories are researched with good quotes and sources. Editorials offer good solutions/conclusions. Reviews span a multitude of topics of interest to students.

Nice creative packages on center spreads (try to avoid putting ads on this showcase). You seem to be trying to cover the school and those areas those interest students and those areas of which students need to be aware.

Areas needing work:
Editing
Need for more sports coverage/briefs/stats
Need for more creative headlines
Dark screens
Poor photo reproduction
Hoosier Star Merit Winner: Greenwood Community High School ­ Timberlines
Editors: Ashley Crockett and Leslie Stephenson
Adviser: Denise Roberts

Judge's Comments:
Well-rounded coverage with a focus on the school, related events, activities and people make Timberlines an excellent read for its student audience. Editorials are well written, with relative topics that offer workable solutions and/or conclusions.

Attractive front-page design with dominant well composed photo.

Areas needing work:
Column width ­ a little too wide
Lack of creative headlines
Poor photo reproduction
Entire back page devoted to one profile ­ could shorten and add one to two stories

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