KCBY, The Sidekick brings home three stars from Austin

Members+of+The+Sidekick+and+KCBY-TV+visited+the+University+of+Texas+at+Austin+from+April+14-16+for+the+ILPC+Spring+convention.+Coppell+Student+Media+was+awarded+an+Online+News+Gold+Star%2C+The+Sidekick+was+awarded+a+Newspaper+Silver+Star+Award+and+KCBY-TV+was+awarded+a+Broadcast+Silver+Star.+Photo+courtesy+Chase+Wofford.

Members of The Sidekick and KCBY-TV visited the University of Texas at Austin from April 14-16 for the ILPC Spring convention. Coppell Student Media was awarded an Online News Gold Star, The Sidekick was awarded a Newspaper Silver Star Award and KCBY-TV was awarded a Broadcast Silver Star. Photo courtesy Chase Wofford.

Nyah Rama, Staff Writer

A hush falls over the Lady Bird Johnson Auditorium on the University of Texas at Austin campus. Student journalists from both KCBY-TV and The Sidekick are anxiously awaiting for the announcer to call out the winners of the Gold Star Award for online news.

“KPTimes.com, Kingwood Park High School, The Shield Online, McCallum High School; the third and final one goes to… Coppell Student Media, Coppell High School!”

Every attending journalist from Coppell cheers in elation for their peers as The Sidekick editor-in-chief Angelina Liu walks to the stage and receives the award.

“For online I believe that we were the last name called so it was kind of dramatic,” The Sidekick adviser Chase Wofford said. “I wouldn’t say I was over confident, but I felt like we would get an award based on what I’ve seen the program receive this year and all of the work we have put in. I would not say I was shocked, but I was definitely excited.”

Members of The Sidekick and KCBY-TV visited the University of Texas at Austin from April 14-16 for the ILPC Spring convention. Coppell Student Media was awarded an Online News Gold Star, The Sidekick was awarded a Newspaper Silver Star Award and KCBY-TV was awarded a Broadcast Silver Star. Photo courtesy Chase Wofford.

On the final day of the ILPC (Interscholastic League Press Conference) Spring Convention, students attended the awards ceremony in which KCBY-TV received the Silver Star Award in Broadcast and The Sidekick received a Silver Star for Newspaper.

“I don’t think this award can be attributed to any one person,” Liu said. “Everybody helped from podcasts to writing to designing and taking photos. I was super excited but even if we didn’t get [awards] I knew that I wasn’t going to be upset because I knew the staff this year put in a lot of work and the judges can’t possibly see everything that goes on behind the scenes.”

From April 14-16, KCBY-TV and The Sidekick  attended the ILPC convention. The convention included breakout sessions which students attended in Burdine Hall, Gearing Hall and Painter Hall at UT Austin. These sessions taught students new techniques they can incorporate into their own media programs.

“Being able to see a guy who is doing the same stuff that I want to be doing and showing me that I’m doing it the right way was very eye opening for me,” KCBY-TV senior program director Mauricio (Mau) Sigler said.

Award judging begins in February and there are certain criteria a group must meet to earn a Star award.

“They critique our shows over the past year and you have to make Distinguished Merit to get a star and we got the Silver Star this year,” KCBY-TV adviser Irma Lazos-Kennedy said.

In addition to group awards, several members of the programs received Individual Achievement Awards. 

Newspaper

  • Anushree De (News Writing)
  • Sreeja Mudumby (Editorial Writing)
  • Meer Mahfuz (Sports News Story)
  • Maya Palavali (Sports Feature Story and Cartoon)
  • Saniya Koppikar (Entertainment Feature)
  • Kayla Nguyen (Photo Story)
  • Nandini Paidesetty (Photo Story)
  • Josh Campbell (News Page/Spread Design)
  • Sri Achanta (Editorial Page/Spread Design)

Online News

  • Ava Johnson (News Writing)
  • Meer Mahfuz (Sports News Story)
  • Anjali Krishna (Sports News Story)
  • Angelina Liu (Sports Feature Story, In Depth News/Feature Package and Sports Action Photo)
  • Trisha Atluri (Entertainment Review)
  • Sri Achanta (Entertainment Feature)
  • Manasa Mohan (Personal Column and In Depth News/Feature Package)
  • Maya Palavali (Computer Art 2x and Student Artwork/Cartoon)
  • Srihari Yechangunja (Student Artwork/Cartoon and Infographic/Sidebar)
  • Shrayes Gunna (Portrait)
  • Meghna Kulkarni (Portrait)
  • Sannidhi Arimanda (Sports Feature Photo)

Broadcast

  • Mauricio Sigler (General News Story and Intro Sequence)
  • Effie Shen (General News Story)
  • Rohith Tiruvaipati (General News Story)
  • Gail Sajjarotjana (General News Story)
  • Sidd Sivakumar (Documentary)
  • Swarra Mudgalkar (Documentary)
  • Archis Ukidwe (Sports Feature Story Honorable Mention)
  • Arissa Fricano (Sports Feature Story Honorable Mention)
  • Yuvan Aravindan (Sports Feature Story Honorable Mention)
  • Betsy Krenek (Intro Sequence)
  • Lauren Beach (Intro Sequence and Individual On-Air Talent)
  • Anita Goodwin (Intro Sequence and Individual On-Air Talent)

The preparation leading up to these awards has been long and arduous.

“For newspaper, it was a struggle,” Liu said. “We didn’t win any sort of [Star] award last year and Silver is the second place so being able to jump from nothing to second was amazing, but we have not been the best at meeting deadlines so there has been a lot of scrambling and last minute graphics or photo galleries being put in. I’m still so proud of our designers, writers and photographers that contributed to each issue but I will say that it was not very easy.”

KCBY shared a similar experience.

“There were a lot of hours outside of school,” Sigler said. “It is my job to make sure that our production is up to the quality we wanted and I have to oversee all the production and make sure everyone meets their deadlines.”

While both programs have received numerous awards, they are still remaining true to their goals.

“My goals for a year are never Gold Star or bust or Pacemaker or bust,” Wofford said. “My goal is always to help students grow and I think awards are a motivating factor in that, but there have been years where content was really good and did not win awards so it is just subjective.”

Follow Nyah Rama (@nyah_rama) and @CHSCampusNews on Twitter.