WCC wins top award for journalism

Ka 'Ohana student newspaper excels in national competition

Windward Community College
Contact:
Bonnie J Beatson, (808) 235-7374
Mktg & Public Rel Dir, Windward Community College
Libby Young, 235-7396
Professor of English and Journalism, Language Arts
Posted: Jul 29, 2014

The Windward Community College 2014 newspaper staff
The Windward Community College 2014 newspaper staff

Windward Community College’s student newspaper, Ka ‘Ohana (the family), has garnered another first place national award from the American Scholastic Press Association. The newspaper has ranked among the top winners in the ASPA competition for the past 19 years.

Ka ‘Ohana scored 930 out of 1,000 possible points for the first place category and was recognized by the judges as “an excellent school newspaper, which shows the creativity and journalistic knowledge of your staff.” The competition recognizes excellence and provides feedback in content, page design, general plan, art, editing and creativity.

Ka ‘Ohana is produced by students in WCC’s newspaper lab and news writing courses. The classes provide hands-on training in the wholistic news gathering process — from writing articles to graphic design, photography and website management.

Ka ‘Ohana has also served as a springboard to the state’s coveted and highly competitive Society of Professional Journalists summer internships. For 2012 and 2013, two WCC student journalists were among an elite group of interns selected, mostly from four-year colleges and universities.

“I’m so proud of our Ka ‘Ohana editors and staff,” said advisor Libby Young. “We try to uphold the highest standards of good journalism—to promote awareness of issues and to share stories that can inspire everyone on campus.”

For more information about the Journalism program at Windward Community College, contact Journalism Professor Libby Young at 235-7396 or libby@hawaii.edu.

Pictured in photo are WCC's Ka ‘Ohana newspaper staff (from left): Grant Kono, JP Spencer, Charissa Wittig, editor in chief Kelly Montgomery, advisor Libby Young, Patrick Hascall, Jessica Crawford, Yvonne Hopkins, Creighton Gorai and John Bascuk. (Not pictured: Ashley Shankles)

For more information, visit: http://www.kaohanaonline.org