mjea – Montana Journalism

Nearly 150 high school students from as far away as Frazer (465 miles) and as close as Hellgate High (seven blocks) gathered at the University of Montana School of Journalism on April 21 to celebrate the state’s top high school media makers, connect with each other and take workshops with the school’s professors at the annual Montana High School Journalism and Media Day.

The day kicked off with the Montana High School Journalism Awards, given by the School of Journalism and the Montana Journalism Education Association. Bigfork High School’s Elizabeth Hyde was named the Montana High School Journalist of the Year, with MJEA’s Beth Britton and Missoulian publisher Jim Strauss hailing her work and promise as a young journalist.

In the “pacesetter” categories, the Hellgate Lance won for online publications among AA schools and The Norse Code from Bigfork High won for Class B schools. Eagle TV at Big Sky High School took home the broadcast pacesetter award for AA schools and the Norse Code at Bigfork High won the category for B schools.

For newspaper pacesetters, The Hellgate Lance won the AA category, The Signal Butte at Custer County High School won for Class A, The Florence Chronicle at Florence-Carlton High won Class B and the Sagebrush Saga from Garfield County High School won in Class C.

Kendall Boehm of the Florence Chronicle won the Student Free Press Award for coverage of a club that formed to support LGBTQ+ students.

“It is always tricky for student journalists to cover controversial issues in your school, but even more difficult to cover a topic that has exploded into the divisive world of social media beyond the schoolhouse gates,” the judges wrote.

See the full list of awards and photos below.

Photos by Griffin Ziegert.

High School Class	Category	Place	Newspaper/Program	School	Individual Winner (If applicable)
AA	Feature Writing	First	The Hellgate Lance	Hellgate High School	Ali Caudle

C	Feature Writing	First	Sagebrush Saga	Garfield County High School	Abby Pierce

AA	Sports Event Writing	First	Big Sky Sun Journal	Big Sky High School	Hollin Keintz

A	Sports Event Writing	First	Signal Butte	Custer County High School	Miranda Moe

B	Sports Event Writing	First	Florence Chronicle	Florence-Carlton High School	Abigail Binder

C	Sports Event Writing	First	Ennis Mustang Monthly	Ennis High School	Lily Connor

AA	Sports Feature Writing	First	Hellgate Lance	Hellgate High School	Maggie Vann

A	Sports Feature Writing	First	The Norse Code	Bigfork High School	Liz Hyde

C	Sports Feature Writing	First	Sagebrush Saga	Garfield County High School	Abby Pierce

AA	Opinion Writing	First	Hawk Talk	Bozeman High School	Miles Fastnow

C	Opinion Writing	First	Mustang Monthly	Ennis High School	Ruby Blazer

AA	News Writing	First	Hawk Tawk	Bozeman High School	Olivia Bulis

A	News Writing	First	Signal Butte	Custer County High School	Lauren Reinhart

B	News Writing	First	The Howl Newspaper	Shelby High School	Hayden Schilling

C	News Writing	First	The Mustang Monthly	Ennis High School	Ruby Blazer

B	Feature Photography	First	The Norse Code	Bigfork High School	Zoe Sellers

AA	News Photography	First	The Stampede	C.M. Russell High School	Isabel Foley

AA	Sports Photography	First	Sun Journal	Big Sky High School	Kolja Gerstenkorn

AA	Audio	First	The Joust	Hellgate High School	Darian Davalos, Win Duerk and Sierra Meissner

C	Video Newscast	First	Falcon Student News	Twin Bridges High School	Ruby Waller, Sam Konen, Emma Konen and Callie Kaiser

AA	Video: Sports	First	Eagle TV	Big Sky High School	Jacob Gardanier, Cole Campbell, Tre Reed and Dawson Raulston

B	Video: Sports	First	The Norse Code	Bigfork High School	Abby Curtiss

AA	Video: PSA	First	Eagle TV	Big Sky High School	Douglas Lautzenheiser, Gwen Fleming-Campbell and Hollin Keintz

AA	Video: Arts & Entertainment	First	Eagle TV	Big Sky High School	Hollin Keintz, Doug Lautzenheiser and Gwen Fleming-Campbell

B	Video: Arts & Entertainment	First	The Norse Code	Bigfork High School	Liz Hyde and Zoe Sellers

AA	Video: General Assignment News	First	Eagle TV	Big Sky High School	Hollin Keintz

AA	Photo Illustration	First	The Stampede	C.M. Russell High School	Isabel Foley

A	Advertising Design	First	Signal Butte	Custer County District High School	Signal Butte Staff

C	Advertising Design	First	Sagebrush Saga/Garfield Yearbook	Garfield County District High School	Brenna Murnion

B	Editorial Cartooning	First	The Norse Code	Bigfork High School	Lillian Peterson

C	Editorial Cartooning	First	The Mustang Monthly	Ennis High School	Gracie Leavitt

AA	Infographic	First	The Stampede	C.M. Russell High School	Isabel Foley

A	Infographic	First	Signal Butte	Custer County High School	Lauren Reinhart

B	Infographic	First	The Norse Code	Bigfork High School	Piper Lee

A	Newspaper Design	First	Signal Butte	Custer County High School

B	Newspaper Design	First	Florence Chronicle	Florence-Carlton High School

AA	Online Pacesetter	First	The Hellgate Lance	Hellgate High School

B	Online Pacesetter	First	The Norse Code	Bigfork High School

AA	Broadcast Pacesetter	First	Eagle TV	Big Sky High School

B	Broadcast Pacesetter	First	The Norse Code Newscast	Bigfork High School

AA	Newspaper Pacesetter	First	The Hellgate Lance	Hellgate High School

A	Newspaper Pacesetter	First	The Signal Butte	Custer County High School

B	Newspaper Pacesetter	First	The Florence Chronicle	Florence-Carlton High School

C	Newspaper Pacesetter	First	Sagebrush Saga	Garfield County High School

B	Student Free Press Award	First	Florence Chronicle	Florence-Carlton High School	Kendall Boehm

B	High School Journalist of the Year			Bigfork High School	Elizabeth Hyde

Nearly 200 high school students from across Montana filled the halls of the University of Montana School of Journalism on Thursday, March 22 for the annual Montana Journalism Education Association awards and High School Journalism Day at UM.

Students took home awards at the awards banquet and then skills and knowledge from eleven different workshops, ranging from TV production to telling stories with Instagram, offered by School of Journalism professors.

To download and see the full list of High School Journalism Day awards, click here.

Below, you’ll find a gallery of some of the moments we captured at High School J-Day. Click on any image to view the gallery.

High school students learn the ins and outs of video and TV production during High School Journalism Day. Photo by Todd Goodrich.

High school journalists get experience with the green screen in the studio at the the University of Montana School of Journalism. Photo by Todd Goodrich.

University of Montana, School of Journalism, High School Day, Group Photo by Adjunct Instructor Lido Vizzutti

Students get hands-on experience in the studio at High School Journalism Day. Photo by Professor Kevin Tompkins.

UM President Seth Bodnar joins UM J-School students in welcoming nearly 200 high school journalists to UM. Photo by Jamie Drysdale.

Students gather in the University Center Ballroom for the kick off of High School Journalism Day. Photo by Jamie Drysdale.

Montana JEA State Director/Mentor Linda Ballew gives the Montana High School Journalist of the Year Award to Aston Kinsella of Sentinel High School. Photo by Jamie Drysdale.

Students rush for the buzzers during Dennis Swibold’s “Fake News Game Show.” Photo by Jamie Drysdale.

Professor Dennis Swibold moderates his Fake News Game Show, in which students guess, “Is it real or is it fake?” with buzzers and everything. Photo by Jamie Drysdale.

Adjunct Professor Jeff Gailus teaches a group of High School Students about the future of freelancing. Photo by Jamie Drysdale.

Professor Lee Banville teaches “Can This Hashtag Get Me Suspended?” covering the rules around schools and what they can and cannot do to students for speaking out in class and on social media. Photo by Jamie Drysdale.

Professor Keith Graham teaches “Photo-J and Your Phone” Keith covered how to improve your smartphone photography and storytelling skills for social media. Photo by Jamie Drysdale.

UM President Seth Bodnar opens High School Journalism Day at the University of Montana: “We live in a time when it’s very, very easy to stay within your echo chamber … to talk to people who only share the same view … to hear very narrow perspectives. Today, journalism is even more important, I would argue, than it’s ever been. Because, journalism is about telling the stories of the world and communicating information in an effective, informed way.” Photo by Lido Vizzutti.