UNO School of Communication Hosts High School Media Conference

Omaha Bryan, Millard West, Marian High, and Mount Michael Benedictine high schools received top honors in a media contest held annually by the University of Nebraska Omaha School of Communication.

The awards were presented April 17 during the High School Media Conference at the Scott Conference Center. School of Communication faculty members, graduate teaching assistants and capstone course students served as contest judges. The conference featured workshops for area high school students.

Omaha Central High School was the Division A first place Best Newspaper winner for The Register. Second place was awarded to Omaha Westside for The Lance and third place went to Omaha North High Magnet for The North Star.

Omaha Marian High School won first place for the Best Newspaper Division B for The Network. Second place was awarded to The Voice from Gretna and third place went to The Mount from Mount Michael Benedictine.

Omaha Bryan High School won first place in the Division A Sweepstakes Award for accumulating the most points across all print, photo and graphic categories. Second place went to Millard West and third place to Papillion-La Vista South.

Omaha Marian High School won first place in the Division B Sweepstakes Award, followed by Mount Michael Benedictine in second and Fremont in third.

Millard West won first place in the Excellence in Broadcasting Award, followed by Westside High school in second and OPS Career Center in third.

Dr. Sherrie Wilson, School of Communication, associate professor, Journalism and Media Communication division coordinator and internship coordinator, was presented with the first annual Outstanding Service Award for her work in coordinating the High School Media Conference from 1998-2017. In future years, this award will be presented to one area high school media adviser annually.

Sponsors included the Nebraska Broadcasters Association, UNO Undergraduate Admissions and the UNO Bookstore.

In other categories for the media contest, the winners are as follows:

Best News Story

Division A

• First Place: Alexandra Dobesh - Millard West High School
• Second Place: Chris Spence - Papillion-La Vista South High School
• Third Place: Dominick Bartels - Omaha North High Magnet School

Division B

• First Place: Grace Sall - Omaha Marian High School
• Second Place: Blake Rallis - Council Bluffs St. Albert High School
• Third Place: Andrew Hood - Creighton Preparatory School

Best In-Depth Story by Team

Division A

• First Place: Julia Steiner, Malia Battafarano, Sam Cohen, Jim Schueneman and Meredith Matz - Westside High School
• Second Place: Sydney Hamilton, Tyvon Smith, Nadia Spurlock and MaRaya White - Omaha North High Magnet School
• Third Place: Madeline Martinez, Hailey Edwards, Chris Spence, Emma Farson, Aimee Correa and Madi Ballow - Papillion-La Vista South High School

Division B

• First Place: Cole Kalkowski, Ben Bies, Joey Recker and Hudson Hohman - Mount Michael Benedictine High School
• Second Place: Audrey Hertel, Hayley Golden and Lily Watkins - Omaha Marian High School
• Third Place (Tie): Cole Kalkowski, Ben Bies, Joey Recker and Hudson Hohman – Mount Michael Benedictine High School; Allie Janulewicz, Corban Critchfield, Ben Bickel and Jamison Karas - Gretna High School

Best Feature Story

Division A

• First Place: Lesly Lopez - Omaha Bryan High School
• Second Place: Joseline Albeño - Omaha North High Magnet School
• Third Place: Fernando Brito - Omaha Bryan High School

Division B

• First Place: Kolton Koubsky - Mount Michael Benedictine High School
• Second Place: Hayley Lambley - Fremont High School
• Third Place: Nathan George - Creighton Preparatory School

Best Sports Story

Division A

• First Place: Cailin Tomsu - Bellevue East High School
• Second Place (Tie): Lesly Lopez - Omaha Bryan High School; Theo Jansen - Omaha Westside High School
• Third Place (Tie): Jayden Jacobs - Omaha Bryan High School; Jaden Cover - Millard West High School; Avery Ripple - Papillion-La Vista High School

Division B

• First Place: Maria Determan - Omaha Marian High School
• Second Place: Nick Stavas - Glenwood High School
• Third Place: Emily Shurtliff - Gretna High School

Best Editorial

Division A

• First Place: Madelyn Anderson - Millard West High School
• Second Place: Cailin Tomsu - Bellevue East High School
• Third Place: Cormac O’Brien - Omaha Central High School

Division B

• First Place: Delaney Stekr - Omaha Marian High School
• Second Place: Kelsey Eihausen - Bennington High School
• Third Place (Tie): Ryan Schnurr and Parson Covington - Glenwood High School; Amanda Hickle - Blair High School

Best Column

Division A

• First Place: Corey Griffin - Omaha North High Magnet School
• Second Place: Fernando Brito - Omaha Bryan High School
• Third Place: Jessi Burd - Millard West High School

Division B

• First Place: Madison Thomas - Bennington High School
• Second Place: Gizela Kwihangana - Omaha Benson High School
• Third Place: Isaiah Holliday - Omaha Benson High School

Best Review:

Division A

• First Place: Aimee Correa - Papillion-La Vista South High School
• Second Place: Malcolm Durfee-O’Brien - Omaha Central High School
• Third Place (Tie): Trevor Lueck - Millard West High School; Adri Martinez - Omaha Bryan High School

Division B

• First Place: Hailie Rydel - Omaha Marian High School
• Second Place (Tie): Claire Murphy - Omaha Benson High School; Jessica Blum - Gretna High School
• Third Place (Tie): Anna Cook - Omaha Marian High School; Jimmy Crotty - Mount Michael Benedictine High School

Best Ad

Division A

• First Place: Logan Foote - Millard South High School
• Second Place: Reagan Mabus - Omaha Central High School
• Third Place: Grace Flogstad - Millard South High School

Division B

• First Place: Caroline Drew - Omaha Marian High School
• Second Place: Sofia Herrera - Omaha Marian High School
• Third Place: Aaron Mercado - Fremont High School

Best News/Feature Photograph

Division A

• First Place: Emma Farson - Papillion-La Vista South High School
• Second Place: Jaidan Hanshaw - Papillion-La Vista South High School
• Third Place (Tie): Maddie Augustine - Millard West High School; Ashley Roth - Omaha Bryan High School

Division B

• First Place: Tanner Muhlecke - Creighton Preparatory School
• Second Place: Aaron Mercado - Fremont High School
• Third Place: Allie Hundt - Glenwood High School

Best Sports Photograph

Division A

• First Place (Tie): Ava Dunne - Millard West High School; Abigail Casarez-Chaidez - Omaha Bryan High School
• Second Place: Caitlin Pieters - Omaha North High Magnet School
• Third Place: Ashleigh Shafer - Millard West High School

Division B

• First Place: Jeff Dong - Creighton Preparatory High School
• Second Place: Timothy Schrieber - Plattsmouth High School
• Third Place: William Evezic - Council Bluffs St. Albert High School

Best Newspaper Single Page Layout

Division A

• First Place: Fernando Brito - Omaha Bryan High School
• Second Place: Anna Kaminski - Omaha Central High School
• Third Place: Delaney Nordbrock - Millard West High School

Division B

• First Place: Hayley Golden - Omaha Marian High School
• Second Place: Blake Zellmer - Omaha Benson High School
• Third Place: Allison Ostapowicz - Omaha Marian High School

Best Newspaper Two-Page Layout

Division A

• First Place: Madeline Martinez - Papillion-La Vista South High School
• Second Place: Delaney Nordbrock - Millard West High School
• Third Place: Sam Cohen and Julia Steiner - Westside High School

Division B

• First Place: Audrey Hertel - Omaha Marian High School
• Second Place: Jamison Karas - Gretna High School
• Third Place: Cole Kalkowski - Mount Michael Benedictine High School

Best Yearbook/Magazine Layout

Division A

• First Place: Olivia Rickley - Omaha Bryan High School
• Second Place (Tie): Hannah Cunningham - Bellevue East High School; Riley Kirkpatrick - Papillion-La Vista South High School
• Third Place (Tie): McKenna Heim and Leah Johnson - Omaha North High Magnet School; Annaliese Punt - Millard West High School

Division B

• First Place: Lauren Vetter - Fremont High School
• Second Place (Tie): Tyler Brammer - Glenwood High School; Anna Kilzer - Omaha Marian High School
• Third Place: Emma Hopkins - Gretna High School

Best Original Art/Computer Graphics

Division A

• First Place: Olivia Rickley - Omaha Bryan High School
• Second Place: Trevor Lueck - Millard West High School
• Third Place (Tie): Julian Hock-Beaty - Omaha Central High School; Julia Steiner - Westside High School

Division B

• First Place: Audrey Hertel and Audrey Yost - Omaha Marian High School
• Second Place (Tie): Aaron Mercado - Fremont High School; Temperance Kazakevicius - Blair High School
• Third Place (Tie): Audrey Hertel - Omaha Marian High School; Aaron Mercado - Fremont High School

Best Cartoon

Division A

• First Place: Kyra “Coda” Haight - Papillion-La Vista South High School
• Second Place: Jane Knudsen - Westside High School
• Third Place: Ramya Her - Westside High School

Division B

• First Place: Bokai Zhang - Mount Michael Benedictine High School
• Second Place: Sofia Herrera - Omaha Marian High School
• Third Place: Maria Piperis - Omaha Marian High School

Best Newspaper

Division A

• First Place: The Register - Omaha Central High School
• Second Place: The Lance - Westside High School
• Third Place: The North Star - Omaha North High Magnet School

Division B

• First Place: The Network- Omaha Marian High School
• Second Place: The Voice - Gretna High School
• Third Place: The Mount - Mount Michael Benedictine High School

Best News Broadcast

• First Place: Kaitlyn Rosenbaum, Joey Carollo and Katherine Pelton - Omaha Marian High School
• Second Place Alec Rome - OPS Career Center
• Third Place: Staff - Creighton Preparatory School

Best Video News Story

• First Place: Dre Hill and Chris Speeks - Westside High School
• Second Place: Annaliese Punt and Kaitlin Kocis - Millard West High School
• Third Place: Skyler Davis - Mount Michael Benedictine High School

Best Video Feature Story

• First Place: Trent Hancock - Westside High School
• Second Place: Alec Rome - OPS Career Center
• Third Place (Tie): Tristan Roemmich - Creighton Preparatory School; Brandon McMiller - Westside High School

Best Video Sports Story

• First Place: Alec Rome - OPS Career Center
• Second Place: Dayton Bailey, Dillon Bailey and Gabriel Runyon - Omaha North High Magnet School
• Third Place: Mikey Langford - Westside High School

Best Video Public Service Announcement

• First Place: Lewis Kirke and Josselyn Telule - Omaha North High Magnet School
• Second Place: Parker Jahn - Gretna High School
• Third Place: Cole Filer and Sydney Looney - Millard West High School

Best Long-Form Audio

• First Place: Jaden Cover and Andrew Pfeifer - Millard West High School
• Second Place: Hannah Morrison - Gretna High School
• Third Place: Virginia Jansen and Mina Testolin - Westside High School

Best Short-Form Audio

• First Place: JD Wessel, Jaden Cover and Andrew Pfeifer - Millard West High School
• Second Place: Cole Filer - Millard West High School
• Third Place: Cole Filer - Millard West High School

For more information contact, Melodae Morris at 402.554.4179 or melodaemorris@unomaha.edu.