The journalism program does it again. They came back from the state convention with many awards to add to their decorated programs.

With Timberlines bringing home first place for Hoosier Star, this becomes the fourth year in a row the staff earned this direction.

“I am so proud of our staff last year pulling it together with a very young staff, and it was very impressive to continue our great winning streak. I also have to give a shout out  to the past editor-in-chief, Rachel McDonald, who really pulled our staff together last year and did a great job,” senior Logan Connor, editor-in-chief, said.

The Timberlines also earned second place for the website, ghstimberlines.com, for their digital newspaper. This website is updated constantly with photos, stories and videos.

“I think our website has been a great addition to our newspaper. It has all of the stories seen in the newspaper plus additional stories and photos that have not been seen before,” junior Dom Williams, sports editor, said. 

With the staff changing every year, it can be difficult to continue producing top level newspapers year after year.

“Last year, we were worried because the new people outnumbered the old people and we weren’t sure if we would be able to have a successful year. But, we had great leadership to teach the younger staff members, and they stepped up big and contributed very well to our staff,” Connor said.

Along with the program award, students earned individual awards. Graduates Naomi Weaver and Audrey Poynter both earned awards. Weaver took 3rd place for news photo, and Poynter earned the 1st place award for portrait..

“I thought it was just great to see them standing out just for their own great work, and I hope we can continue to have members go above and beyond in their stories and photos like they did,” junior Alex Kramer, sports editor, said.

The staff is not stopping here. They are working to get their fifth consecutive first place award.

“This year we have a bigger staff, and newspaper and a lot of talent, so we are really hoping that we can celebrate again next year and come back with even more awards,” Kramer said.

This convention was not just about the awards. This was an all day fieldtrip for a select few journalism students, and they were able to take classes to improve their skills.

“I went to many classes while I was there, but the one I really liked was about leadership. We used to do this, and I’m bringing back where after each issue we have a discussion about the likes and dislikes of each issue. This really helps us improve on our mistakes along with looking at how we did good,” Connor said.

Yearbook also had a successful year and took home 3rd place in theme development from the state convention.

“We are really proud of ourselves for our accomplishments last year. We did a great job last year, but I have some great work this year, and I think we are really improving. We could see some better recognition next year from the convention,” senior Myzshia Bryant, design editor and photo coordinator, said.