Wauwatosa West Journalism students received two best of show awards and one individual award at the Journalism Education Association (JEA) and National Scholastic Press Association’s (NSPA) National Convention this weekend. Over 4,000 students from around the country gathered at the convention which showcases classes and seminars about the growing world of journalism and to compete among their peers.

The NSPA sponsors the “Best of Show” competition in which any school attending the conference can participate. West won top awards in both an individual category, online publication and broadcast competitions.

West Side Stories (WauwatosaWest.com) was awarded an 8th place for its website in the small schools category. The West Side Stories Student Broadcast News program was awarded a 7th place in the Broadcast category. In the individual competition, Senior Star Donaldson received a superior ranking for her on-air broadcast write off. Donaldson was required to write a script and interview a subject on camera.

West’s journalism adviser, Chris Lazarski, said that, “Students learn numerous important academic skills when engaged in the journalism process. It is a great thing to have student work recognized as superior – students work very hard on all our publications and it is done entirely outside of the school day – which is unlike any other school that was recognized.”