The Omega newspaper placed fourth in Best of Show at the JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention. They competed over the weekend of Nov. 10-13, in the category for a newspaper tabloid with 16 or fewer pages, along with the Cauldron yearbook.

“I’m really proud of us as a team,” Fletcher Peters, online editor-in-chief said, “We worked a lot on the last issue, changing the In-Depth section last minute, and I’m glad to see such a good result.”

Along with the best of show award, the Omega had individual staff members competing in write off competitions with five of them placing in their respective sections.

Sidney Lee, feature editor, earned an excellent in editorial writing. Lucas Naber, A&E editor, earned an honorable mention in review writing. Sophia Di Iorio, in-depth editor, Gayu Menon, news editor and Fletcher Peters, online editor-in-chief, collectively earned an honorable mention for their online news package.

Competing in the online news package write off was a new experience for Peters.

“I competed in Online News Package in a group of three, we were given a topic to research, write a story, take pictures, and create other online aspects. We made a video, an interactive map, and some interesting infographics. We were given an Honorable Mention for our work, and I’m really proud of that because I had never competed in the event before,” Peters said.

Competing in her first write off and writing her first editorial story, Lee earned an excellent and was very surprised.

“I felt a little underprepared. I was really nervous because I had never done anything like that before. I was really excited and shocked actually. When Mrs. Levin announced it, I didn’t believe her,” Lee said.

Peters has high hopes for the future of the paper and our online aspects.

“I’m hoping that we can continue to publish the most newsworthy topics and keep updating online. Maybe next year we can even enter our website in the competition,” Peters said.

Print editor-in-chief Abigail Murphy shares hopes with Peters on where the paper will go in the near future.

“The issue that we submitted to best of show was a great starting point for where I hope the paper will go this year. I think that our strongest area is in our print publication and that, in the future, we will mainly be focusing on utilizing our website and social media to its full potential,” Murphy said.

Going to this convention gives the publication an opportunity to see other publications and get some ideas for our publication.

“I think we could make our publications longer. We’ve started going longer than eight pages, and seeing other publications publish much longer issues was encouraging. A longer issue means we can publish more of our content,” Peters said.

Murphy and Natalie White, hybrid editor-in-chief, gave a presentation on censorship in high school newspapers. Murphy wrote a story in March of 2015 on prior review and censorship which was circulated throughout the state. The presentation outlined what the Omega experienced during the process of prior review.

“In the past at the convention, I’ve gone to sessions where speakers talk about their experiences with prior review and censorship and have always been inspiring and informative. Having my own experiences to share, it was meaningful to be to be able to tell the story of what our paper went through last year and hopefully provide tips and guidance to publications that may be going through something similar,” Murphy said.