JUNIOR HIGH PAPER, WRITERS GARNER HONORS

EDITOR'S NOTE: Christina Van Nostrand was a seventh-grader at L.J. Schultz School in Cape Girardeau and had written this article for The Paw, the school's student newspaper.

In its 10th anniversary year, The Paw staff has earned a record number of awards. The record 27 honors include the Missouri Interscholastic Press Association's highest overall rating, All-Missouri.

The Paw is a newspaper produced by seventh-grade students at L.J. Schultz School in Cape Girardeau.

The Paw was one of only 17 high school and junior high school papers from throughout the state to receive the special All-Missouri rank. The announcement was made at the recent Awards Day ceremonies at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

In individual honors, Katie Rose claimed scholastic journalism's national prize, a Quill and Scroll Gold Key Award, for her column, "Could it be a cheeselog," from the Dec. 21 issue.

Sixteen Paw staff members claimed first-place state awards in the Missouri Interscholastic Press Association individual competition this spring.

First-place winners include Hayley Bridges, Laura Canupp, Thomas Clayton, Sarah Rutherford and Christina Von Nostrand for their team effort on the "Class of 2000" middle-page spread design.

Janet Smith won the state's first-place award in the sports feature category for "The Ice: hot, new, teen attraction."

Lindsey Francis, Jennifer Taylor and Martha Stoecker teamed up to win first place for their design of the front page in the Feb. 14 issue.

David Wyatt took the state's first-place award for best column with his "Bah, Halloween" in October.

Paul Bacak, Beth Bishop, Lorie Bittle, Ryan Bollwerk, Hayley Bridges and Jennifer Taylor took first place in the state middle-page spread category with their work on the "Parents" feature in February.

Four Paw staff members took second place in the MIPA competition.

Thomas Clayton and Tom Dohogne each won second place in MIPA photojournalism categories. Clayton's prize was for a feature photo, "Shirt Line," and Dohogne's award was for a creative Christmas decoration photo.

Lorie Bittle won second place in the feature writing for "America's ... and Taylor's ... favorite fat cat" in the February issue.

Greg Miller won second place in the sports column category for his column on the baseball strike.

Four Paw staff members took third-place state awards in the competition.

Ryan Bollwerk earned third place in the cartoon/art division for his cartoon in the December issue.

Matt Komorech won third place for his February column "Sisters."

Katie Rose won the third-place editorial award for her work on Hancock II in the first issue.

Martha Stoecker earned third place in the feature category for "Shirt Lines."

"Keep up the fine work," MIPA judge Linda Kane said in her evaluation of The Paw. "And good luck in your second decade."