Everyday, high school journalism programs across North Texas are engrossed in sharing breaking news, student accomplishments and stories with everyone on their campus.

Once a year, The Dallas Morning News turns the tables and makes the story about these young journalists.

On March 26, The Dallas Morning News hosted its 25th annual High School Journalism Day and Competition at  Union Station in downtown Dallas. For the third time, The Sidekick was named Best Newspaper and KCBY won an award for ‘best visual journalists’. The day was a celebration of all the stories they have told, but it was also a celebration of another story – their own.

This year’s High School Journalism Day was the second trip for Sidekick senior editor-in-chief Rachel Buigas-Lopez, who began her journey with the school newspaper as a graphic designer.

 “I really enjoy going,” Buigas-Lopez said. “I know that we are doing real journalism and reporting, but the journalists at Dallas Morning News have made it in the field so it’s inspiring to hear what they have to say. Even if we’re just a high school publication, we’re trying to be like The Dallas Morning News, getting news out there like they are- just on a smaller scale.”

Having his students win the Best Newspaper award was an important achievement for adviser Chase Wofford, who was previously a sports journalist for The Dallas Morning News and has been the adviser for The Sidekick for 11 years.

“I was hopeful about winning,” Wofford said. “I didn’t expect to win, especially with a competition as intense as that. I was not as surprised as [the students] probably were, because they view those other newspapers as these elite newspapers, but I view us in that same category. So I knew we were worthy of winning just like [the other finalists] were.”

The award was only the first of many recognitions Coppell’s journalism program received, however. For The Sidekick’s news editor, the day of March 26 heralded a milestone towards her future in journalism.

 When junior Sakshi Venkatraman, second-year staffer for The Sidekick, was in New York for spring break, she got a call from The Dallas Morning News to inform her that she had been chosen as a summer intern for the newspaper.

Although she will soon be working with Texas’ largest newspaper, Venkatraman had initially not even meant to take journalism at school. When she did, it was only to fulfill a mandatory speech credit and to join KCBY the next year. Now, however, she is sure of her passion for news writing.

“Journalism is what I want to do for the rest of my life and I’m really confident about my career path,” Venkatraman said. “[The internship] is just a step up. I’m getting to work with the staff and editors of one of the best papers in the country, and put my work out there and get real life experience in the field.”

Wofford has personally seen Venkatraman grow from a student in his Intro to Media class to a selected intern for The Dallas Morning News.

“I knew she had a good chance at being chosen for the internship,” Wofford said. “She’s a passionate writer and reporter; she’s taken on such a variety of stories and hasn’t shied away from controversial stories. The challenge for me was to teach her and keep pushing her so that she continues to grow. And she’s done that not because of me, but because she wants to get better.”

Venkatraman won the news reporting category, in which staff members sophomore Avery Davis, senior Sloane Samberson and senior Jasmine Sun were also finalists. Other finalists include sophomore Farah Merchant for sports feature, sophomore Lili Lomas for editorial, junior Amanda Hair for sports photo and junior Joseph Krum for column portfolio.

The KCBY team of Jack Dalrymple, Faith Parker and Fallon Judd, were in the running as finalists for the ‘best video’ category, in which other members Mary Kathryn Ferguson, Jessica James, and Autumn Jones won first place.

Jones’ group was announced as the best visual journalists for a show they had done on the victims of the Dec.26 tornadoes in the cities of Rowlett and Garland. The six-minute documentary had taken the editors and cinematographers around two months, and three visits to Rowlett, to complete.

“We went into it not having any idea of what we were going to do,” Jones said. “We didn’t know anybody. We had to find people on the streets and drive around and find destroyed houses, hoping that someone would let us interview them. It made me feel more like a journalist because in the real world you don’t know what you’re getting into.”

In addition to being recognized for their excellent work, KCBY and The Sidekick members gained insight and exposure into the professional world of journalism, through workshops and talks with renowned journalists. The guest speaker of the event was Meredith Land, who once worked with the first student-run television program at her college and is now a co-anchor and reporter for NBC5.

“I related to her a lot, because she said that in high school she was introverted, like me, but once she found broadcast journalism, she blossomed,” Jones, who is the sports director for KCBY, said. “Now you can see me anchoring on KCBY and that’s something that I would have never done before.”

Merchant is a first year staff writer for The Sidekick, and attended the event as a finalist for a sports feature she wrote on CHS teacher Chris Stricker’s transition from a soccer coach to a chemistry teacher. The experience was new for her, and one she will likely remember for a long time.

“Doing something on my own and being there, I felt like I was part of a real newspaper,” Merchant said. “And the significant thing for me was that I actually went there. That alone was out of my comfort zone, because I was surrounded by journalists and heard their amazing stories.”

For Buigas-Lopez, however, this High School Journalism Day & Competition was her last. But leaving the staff with the Best Newspaper award on her shoulders is a significant accomplishment and something that makes her valuable input as editor-in-chief all the more worthwhile.
“We put in a lot of hard work and not a lot of people necessarily see that when they see the finished product,” Buigas-Lopez said. “So when we get recognized it is super exciting for me. I hope that we continue to get these awards because it was an incredible honor and I was very happy for the whole staff.”