Journalists take home newspaper sweepstakes

DBHS+students+from+Journalism+I+and+The+Bulls+Eye+staff+hold+up+their+awards+and+trophies+from+the+Eastern+L.A.+JEA+write-offs+on+March+4.

Photo courtesy of Catherine Zhang

DBHS students from Journalism I and The Bull’s Eye staff hold up their awards and trophies from the Eastern L.A. JEA write-offs on March 4.

Ted Yarmoski, Contributing Writer

Diamond Bar High School’s journalism students took home the first place trophy for Newspaper Sweepstakes from the Eastern Los Angeles County Journalism Education Association Regional write-offs, held at Schurr High School earlier this month.

The annual competition for student journalists, held on March 5, provided a number of different categories to compete in: critical review, news, novice news, feature, editorial, editorial cartoon, newspaper layout, photography and yearbook layout.

“I was especially proud that we won the Newspaper Sweepstakes for the second time in three years,” journalism adviser Doug List said. “It reflects the high quality of writing that can be found in every issue of The Bull’s Eye.”

Not only did the paper win third in Super Sweepstakes and fifth in Novice News Sweepstakes, but students also placed in many individual categories as well. Junior Brian Chang came in first place in news writing for the second year in a row, senior Bernard Chen placed first for newspaper layout and senior Michelle Ki won first in feature.

For news, novice news and editorial, a press conference was held with a presentation portion and a question-and-answer portion. News and editorial writers then wrote their stories.

Senior Stuart Kusdono placed fifth in editorial and sophomore Christina Liu placed 19th in novice news.

Critical review was tasked with reviewing stand up comedian Johan Miranda’s performance. Sophomore Amelie Lee and juniors Pauline Villegas and Hannah Lee placed fifth, third and sixth respectively. Feature wrote about a NBC Universal Page program member, Calvin Lam.

The program helps members with hands-on experience and a higher chance of being considered for a high-skill position at NBC. Sophomore Cindy Liu placed fifth and junior Catherine Zhang placed 10th.

Sports wrote about Danielle Lugo, a Schurr High School alumna who played Division I softball at Morgan State and now works for MLB. Junior Sophia Kim placed second, while junior Ryan Chae placed fourth and junior Emily Kim took sixth.

Yearbook was done in groups, rather than individually. Team one was made up of seniors Elena Deng and Claire Medina as well as juniors Jeremy Kim, and Shing Lin. They placed seventh for layout and eighth for copy. Team two consisted of seniors Joseline Chang and Jacolyn Yang in addition to  juniors Tulasi Murthy and Sarah Lim. They placed 10th in layout and seventh in copy.

For photography, senior Eric Hong placed fifth, and senior Calvin Ru placed seventh.