News

The Bruin wins 40 Journalism Awards at Kent State

HALEY REEDY • April 27, 2022

BY HALEY REEDY

The Bruin was awarded a ranking of first place in ‘Online News’ and first place in ‘Print Newsmagazine’ by the Ohio Scholastic Media Association and Kent State University’s School of Media and Journalism.

Managing editor, Ari Kaser brought home 14 awards for all of her layout and infographic design. The January issue of the Bruin, the mental health issue, brought home lots of awards for its infographics, design, and its content. *Photo by Haley Reedy*

The Bruin brought home 40 overall awards from the OSMA. 38 of the awards won were individual awards that went to staff members, the other two awards went to the entire paper and staff.

Ari Kaser, the Bruin’s Managing Editor, brought back 14 awards for her layout and overall work for the Bruin.

“I didn’t think that I would get as many awards as I did,” Kaser said. “I feel fantabulous about the whole thing. I’m very proud of the fact that the entire staff won the awards that we did.”

The Bruin’s Editor-In-Chief, Chloe Porter also won several awards for her editorials but she is most proud of how the staff has worked through this year.

“I’m very proud of how hard all of the staff writers and the editors worked and I think we worked as a great team this year,” Porter said.

Next year, the new leadership of the Bruin has high expectations for the new staff and expects to work towards the ‘All Ohio’ category, the highest award given by OSMA and Kent State University’s School of Media and Journalism.

“We have a lot of new good ideas because of the workshops we went to, specifically ‘producing the perfect editor’ taught by Ryan Gunterman, it gave us the survival guide to how to be a good chief,” said Carley Sorrent, new Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Bruin.

All of the journalism students that attended the OSMA awards are waiting in the banquet hall for dinner. Some of the schools that were there included Lakota East, Upper Arlington, Hoover, and of course, Wadsworth High School. *Photo by Haley Reedy*

The organization is run by Kent State University which ranks and reviews high school yearbooks, newspapers, news websites, and student broadcasting. The Bruin got the opportunity to go to this organization to sit through four workshops, a banquet dinner, and an award ceremony.

The workshops were led by journalists and journalism directors. They ranged from anything from the business and sales side of journalism to the actual reporting itself. These workshops provide journalism students with the opportunity to learn how to hone specific skills. Some workshops were about how to properly edit and lead. A few of the workshop leaders include Kim Greene, Dean Hume, and Ryan Gunterman.

The workshop sessions lasted about fifty minutes apiece. After the workshops, the banquet dinner began, and later the keynote speaker. Chic Canfora was the 2022 keynote speaker, having taught high school journalism for 28 years. Canfora’s main point was that journalists have to continue to fight for the truth of what is happening within the world, relating to Ukraine and other journalists during the Vietnam War.

Donate to The Bruin

Your donation will support the student journalists of Wadsworth High School. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.

About the Contributor

HALEY REEDY, Online Editor-in Chief

Haley has been on the staff for all four years of high school. She started out as a staff writer and wrote primarily news stories. Her junior year she was In-Depth Editor, during her time as editor she wrote stories about controversial issues around the school. Haley wants to go onto study journalism and eventually become a journalism advisor to student-run newspapers. Now as a senior, Haley runs The Bruin website as Online Editor-in-Chief. She controls what stories go up and when. Although Haley loves the printed edition of the paper, the use of algorithms and user interaction intrigues her.