The GHS yearbook staff recently earned a Cornhusker award from the Nebraska High School Press Association for their work on the 2019-20 yearbook. The theme they followed was called, “You Don’t Know Us”, which focused on defying stereotypes.
“A Cornhusker is the highest award yearbook can receive,” senior yearbook editor in chief Samantha Chase said. “After the yearbook is completely finished and the book gets handed out it is reviewed. We get a rating and depending on how high the rating is, determines the award that you get.”
The five categories that go into earning an award are concept, coverage, writing, design and photography. Each is worth up to 200 points with an overall perfect score being 1,000. The GHS staff earned a grand total of 890 points, surpassing the 850 required to take home a Cornhusker.
“Last year it was hard for us to keep the concept going once we went into quarantine,” Chase said. “Somehow, going into a pandemic allowed us to keep the theme even stronger because it allowed us to excel expectations and to keep working hard despite a new challenge for us to face.”
A sense of pride comes with being on a publication. Publishing their own work for the world to see, while knowing all of the time and effort that goes into producing it, can help students to feel more confident in themselves along with their writing abilities.
“You get the book at the end of the year and open it and you know there was so much work that you put into it,” junior production manager Delany Jepsen said. “Even with Gretna Media, our website, when stuff gets published on there it’s so cool to see that your name is attached to a website.”
“It is a lot of work, but I think it’s worth it,” Chase said. “Writing in a journalistic style has given me a new challenge. I never wrote in that style in middle school or growing up, so being in a journalism program has allowed me to explore different styles of writing and see what I like and don’t like.”
The staff encourages anyone who enjoys writing or is interested in photography to join a publication. Foundations of Journalism is the starting class for those who are interested, but are not sure what is right for them. The class allows students to experience the best of both worlds in order to determine which is the best fit.
In addition to the yearbook’s Cornhusker, they also earned a special recognition for coverage. The Broadcast students were given an award of distinction with special recognition for overall coverage. Gretna Media earned a Cornhusker as well, with special recognition for writing, along with navigation and design. The newspaper staff was given an award of merit.
This school year, the staff hopes to carry on with the same standards of excellence in order to potentially bring home another Cornhusker.
In a more recent contest sponsored by the Nebraska JEA, 12 students received awards for their work in both yearbook and newspaper. 636 entries were received from 25 schools across the state. Possible recognitions included, Superior, Excellent and Honorable Mention. Junior Ericka Kushiner​ was awarded Editorial Cartooning (Honorable Mention) and Yearbook Feature Writing (Honorable Mention). Junior Kaleigh Zollman​ was awarded Editorial Writing (Superior), Entertainment Review Writing (Excellent) and Infographic Design (Excellent). Senior Bayleigh Koch​ was awarded Entertainment Review Writing (Honorable Mention). Senior Connor Bulgrin was awarded Headline Writing & Design (Honorable Mention). Senior Samantha Chase​ was awarded Headline Writing & Design (Honorable Mention), Yearbook Layout (Excellent) and Yearbook Theme Copy Writing (Excellent). Junior Kalei Renner​ was awarded Newswriting (Excellent) and Column Writing (Honorable Mention). Sophomore Ansley Gydesen​ was awarded NP Sports Feature Writing (Honorable Mention), NP Sports News Writing (Excellent) and Newspaper Layout (Honorable Mention). Sophia Allen​ was awarded Sports/Action Photography (Honorable Mention). Junior Delany Jepsen​ was awarded Yearbook Feature Writing (Honorable Mention) and Yearbook Theme Copy Writing (Superior). Senior Avery Kallman​ was awarded Yearbook Layout (Superior). Junior Savannah Andrews was awarded Yearbook Sports Writing (Honorable Mention). Junior Zane Mrozla-Mindrup​ was awarded Yearbook Sports Writing (Excellent).