Nebraska high school students recently received awards in the Nebraska Press Women (NPW) High School Communications Contest.

Students from 21 schools submitted 508 entries that were judged in 23 categories. Those categories included writing, photos, graphics, broadcast or video, and yearbook categories. The contest was open to high school students across the state. It was judged by communications professionals, with constructive feedback provided on each entry.  

Twenty-three first-place entries advanced to the National Federation of Press Women competition. National award winners will be announced during an online celebration on May 13. 

Lincoln Southeast High School accumulated the most points based on contest results and received the Sweepstakes Award. Marian High School was runner up and Elkhorn North High School placed third for the Sweepstakes Award.  All three schools received awards.   

Winners were recognized during NPW’s spring convention luncheon April 25 in Lincoln. 

Schools with winning entries are Adams Central Jr/Sr High School (Hastings), Bellevue East High School, Bellevue West High School, Bryan High School, Dorchester Public School, Elkhorn North High School, Gretna East High  School, Gretna High School, Lincoln Southeast High School, Lincoln Southwest High School, Marian High School (Omaha), Millard North High School (Omaha), Millard South High School (Omaha), Omaha Buena Vista High School, Omaha South High School, Papillion-La Vista High School, Plattsmouth High School, Westside High School (Omaha) and Westview High School (Omaha). 

Award winners by school are listed alphabetically:  

Adams Central High School

Kiley Ayres, second place, graphics/photo illustration

Brooklyn Buhr, honorable mention, single-page layout

Emma McCaffery, honorable mention, graphics/photo illustration

Kayden Sipp, third place, single-page layout; honorable mention, graphics/photo illustration

Payton Thomas, honorable mention, graphics/photo illustration

Bellevue East High School

Victoria Bogatz, honorable mention, double-truck layout; honorable mention, review

Lailyah Duncan, first place, news story

Charley Leon, third place, double-truck layout

Charlotte Palm, third place, environment; honorable mention, feature story

Avonelle Reliford, honorable mention, opinion

Bellevue West High School

Hadasah Aguilar, honorable mention, news or feature photo

Jackson Payne, honorable mention, video news story

Bryan High School

Andrea Chaparro, first place, opinion

Chiquita Hayes, first place, yearbook layout

Sarah Mesfin, honorable mention, yearbook copywriting

Dorchester High School

Rosie Lopez, honorable mention, double-truck layout

Andrea Pavlish, honorable mention, editorial; honorable mention, opinion; honorable mention, video sports story    

Joseph Peacock, second place, yearbook photo; honorable mention, video sports story

Emilia Perez, honorable mention, yearbook photo

Sierra Sherwood, third place, yearbook photo        

Ariana Tellez, third place, yearbook copywriting

Briana Tellez, honorable mention, yearbook photo

Gabby Theis, second place, cartooning; third place, yearbook layout; honorable mention, yearbook photo

Michael Maldonado, honorable mention, video sports story

Max Novak, honorable mention, opinion    

Elkhorn North High School

Olivia Cemer, second place, news story

Niharika Kandari, first place, review; second place, columns or blogs; honorable mention, opinion

Abby Kwon, honorable mention, columns or blogs

Jillian O’Dell, second place, sports story; honorable mention, opinion

Alyssa Palmer, honorable mention, opinion

Channing Sidders, third place, columns or blogs; honorable mention, environment

Bella Smith, honorable mention, sports story

Gretna East High School

Reese Beery, second place, editorial; third place, sports story

Taegyn Brown, honorable mention, sports photo; honorable mention, video feature story

Lexie Elliott, honorable mention, video feature story

Brayden Hansen, honorable mention, feature story; honorable mention, video sports story

Aidan McClaren, second place, feature story, honorable mention, news story

Nicholas Mitchell, honorable mention, sports photo; honorable mention, yearbook photo

Addilyn Nikodym, first place, yearbook photo

Madeline Petrick, second place, radio or podcast prepared report, third place, graphics/ photo illustration; honorable mention, review; honorable mention, video news story               

Kristin Tuff, honorable mention, review

Gretna High School

Charlie Otto, honorable mention, feature story

Colin, Lingbloom, honorable mention, news or feature photo; honorable mention, sports photo

Daniela Praulina, honorable mention, sports photo

Kelsey Van Waart, honorable mention, opinion

Mary Jane Kushiner, first place, feature story; honorable mention, sports story

Skylar  Miller honorable mention, columns or blogs

Sydney Malone, honorable mention, sports story

Lincoln Southeast High School

Evangeline Ahern, first place, single-page layout; second place, double-truck layout, honorable mention, opinion

Sofia Bunch, first place, best newscast; third place, best newscast

Sofia Clark, honorable mention, video news story

Myla Davis, honorable mention, columns or blogs; honorable mention, opinion

Lily Deitering, honorable mention, review

Kristina Gevorkova, first place, environment, third place, feature story

Mina Jan, honorable mention, opinion

Sydney Kjeldgaard, first place, best newscast; second place, video feature story; third place, video news story; third place, best newscast

Cory Nguyen, first place, video sports story; first place, best newscast; honorable mention, video feature story; third place, best newscast

Lida Prochaska, first place, columns or blogs

Lanna Ramirez Cromer, second place, single-page layout

Alex Ringenberg, second place, video news story

Adam Taylor, first place, best newscast; second place, video news story; second place, video sports story; third place, best newscast

Mason Sheehan, first place, video sports story; third place, video news story

Jenna Steinke, first place, best newscast; second place, video feature story; third place, best newscast

Lincoln Southwest High School

Kayleigh Chaulk, honorable mention, opinion

Lily Weidemeier, second place, yearbook layout; honorable mention, yearbook photo

Marian High School

Kelsey Bragg, honorable mention, best newscast; honorable mention, best newscast

Kassidy Brown, honorable mention, best newscast

Erin Cramer, honorable mention, opinion

Katherine Dietz, first place, double-truck layout

Kate Efaw, first place, video news story; honorable mention, best newscast

Lauren Hicks, first place, sports story

Izumi Huang Fujiwara, first place, graphics / photo illustration; first place, double-truck layout

Madeline Iske, third place, video feature story

Anna Kubat, honorable mention, single-page layout

Kate Markus, honorable mention, best newscast

Bristol Povondra, honorable mention, best newscast

Syra Qureshi, first place, news or feature photo

Sophia Shillcut, honorable mention, best newscast

Victoria Simit, third place, video sports story; honorable mention, best newscast

Hannah Taylor, honorable mention, cartooning

Eleanor Thibodeau, first place, double-truck layout

Maeve Wharton, honorable mention, sports photo

Aliyah Williams, honorable mention, video feature story

Millard North High School

Simon Damrow, second place, best newscast

Oliviah Hopkins, second place, yearbook copywriting

Macey Jarose, honorable mention, video sports story; second place, best newscast

Katelyn Judd, third place, opinion; honorable mention, news story

Sahana Kumar, second place, best newscast

Srihith Madduri, second place, best newscast

Mira Mukherjee, honorable mention, feature story

Salman Muse, second place, best newscast

Parker Neville, first place, yearbook copywriting

Sophia Phillips, second place, best newscast; honorable mention, video sports story

Argyrenia Pipinos, first place, editorial

Mady Thinnes, second place, best newscast

Angela Zheng, second place, best newscast

Millard South High School

Isaac, Gibson, third place, sports photo

Jamison Hanway, honorable mention, single-page layout

Regina Ho, first place, sports photo; third place, news or feature photo

Ella Iwanski, third place, cartooning

Adalyn Jensen, third place, editorial; honorable mention, news or feature photo

Josilynn Prokupek, honorable mention, double-truck layout

Scarlett Roots, honorable mention, double-truck layout

Anna Samuels, honorable mention, cartooning

Spencer Wickwire, honorable mention, video news story

Leah Wigginton, honorable mention, video news story

Omaha Buena Vista High School

Arleigh Duran-Iribe, second place, review

Omaha South High School

Savannah Galas, honorable mention, news story

Papillion LaVista High School

Carly Peterson, second place, sports photo; honorable mention, editorial; honorable mention, news or feature photo

Plattsmouth High School

Haylie Briggs, honorable mention, yearbook photo

Westside High School

Nadia Aboeata, third place, news story

Lucas Boyer, first place, radio or podcast prepared report; second place, radio / television interview or talk show; honorable mention, radio / television interview or talk show; honorable mention, video news story

Emily Cota, honorable mention, opinion; honorable mention, opinion

Kendra Cox, second place, news or feature photo; honorable mention, sports photo; honorable mention, sports photo

Macaiah Dodd, first place, cartooning

Logan Fey, honorable mention, radio / television interview or talk show

Joey Gerard, honorable mention, sports photo

Duncan Hansen, honorable mention, sports photo

Marley Helvey, honorable mention, news story

Cooper Koch, honorable mention, sports photo

Oliver Levy, honorable mention, video news story

Will Mahan, first place, video feature story; honorable mention, best newscast

Sam Mahan, honorable mention, news or feature photo; honorable mention, yearbook copywriting

Will Mahan, honorable mention, video feature story; honorable mention, video news story

Devin Neumann, honorable mention, radio / television interview or talk show

Will Oakes, honorable mention, sports story

Elliot O’Connor, honorable mention, video news story

Jordyn Perez, honorable mention, sports photo

Lucy Pocras, honorable mention, sports story

Hailey Potter, honorable mention, yearbook layout

Luci Proctor, honorable mention, yearbook layout

Juan Romero Sarraf, third place, radio / television interview or talk show; honorable mention, video news story; honorable mention, best newscast

Courtney Schwarz, honorable mention, yearbook layout

Luke Spader, honorable mention, radio / television interview or talk show; honorable mention, sports photo

Zoey Spader, honorable mention, review

Hunter Veylupek, first place, radio or podcast prepared report; second place, radio / television interview or talk show; honorable mention, video sports story

Westview High School

Gwen Annoye, honorable mention, yearbook layout

Jocie Bade, honorable mention, yearbook layout

Jordan Farmer, first place, radio / television interview or talk show

Brooklynn Freeman, second place, environment; second place, opinion

Lexi Monaco, honorable mention, opinion

William Schuler, honorable mention, review

Cora Vobejda, third place, review; honorable mention, environment