How does a student journalist measure their success? In their grade for the class? In yearbook sales? What about in a state-wide contest?

Each year the Iowa High School Press Association holds their fall conference in Iowa City, where student journalists come from all over the state to learn new tips and tricks and the results of the fall IHSPA yearbook contest.

On Oct. 24, journalism teacher JoAnn Gage took 23 students from her journalism classes to the fall conference where Mount Vernon received many awards. Among the awards acquired included three first place, four second place, two third place and six honorable mentions. The yearbook overall placed third in Class A.

Students who won awards had many emotions about winning. “Honest surprise, I didn’t know I had been entered,” Kai Yamanishi, a junior, said. Yamanishi got third place for his story on community service in the Story/ Student Life out-of-school-related category. Yamanishi’s story was initially a story assignment intended for the Mustang Moon, but had been placed on a spread in the yearbook. 

Before they learned the results of the contest, students attended four break-out sessions that taught them new skills and useful technology to help them better their craft, including listening to fellow student journalists. “My favorite session I went to was the Des Moines Yearbook discussion panel because I got to see how other schools operate their yearbook,” senior yearbook staff member Paige Beck said. Beck and her classmates took what they learned with them into the classroom in order to create a better yearbook, in the hopes of receiving more awards next year.

Full list of Awards: