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Monthly Contests

September story winners announced

Kevin Simpson of Shawnee Mission East was judged first place in feature writing for his story of a senior’s battle with cancer in the September KSPA Story of the Month contest. Andrew Goble, also from Shawnee Mission East, was judged first place in news writing, Ashley Golden of Maize High…...

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SM East, Blue Valley students win September contest

Emma Pennington of Shawnee Mission East was judged first place for newsmagazines and Jordan McEntee of Blue Valley High School was awarded first place in newspapers for the innaugural Design of the Month contest. Pennington’s spread, which reviewed local frozen yogurt stores, was praised by judges for its good use…...

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Baseball photo wins April contest for SM Northwest freshman

Brittany Bonsignore‘s baseball photo caught the eye of University of Kansas journalism faculty in April, and the Shawnee Mission Northwest freshman won KSPA’s final Photo of the Month contest for 2009-2010. Judges were impressed with Bonsignore’s exploration of depth of field, her apparent understanding of tight cropping, the captured moment…...

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SM Northwest designer creates winning ‘Warcraft’ page

Annie Unruh of the Lair yearbook at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School has won the April Story of the Month contest, which focused on yearbook page design. Unruh’s winning work, which will be pages 20-21 of the Lair when it’s distributed this month, focuses on SMNW student Cormac Prosser and…...

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SM Northwest student wins March contest with swim photo

Hannah Williams of Shawnee Mission Northwest won Best in Show in the March Photo of the Month contest with her shot of a fellow Northwest student practicing the butterfly stroke at a swim team practice. Judges commended Williams’ ability to capture the moment (a difficult thing to do when the…...

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‘Amigos’ layout wins design contest for SM East students

Katie Kulaga and Gaby Thompson’s two-page news magazine spread depicting students’ summer volunteer  work in Honduras was judged Best in Show and won the Shawnee Mission East students the next-to-last Story of the Month contest, which focused on news publications design. The spread ran in The Harbinger, East’s award-winning student…...

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SM North photo of JROTC inspection wins February contest

Megan Reilly of Shawnee Mission North won KSPA’s February Photo of the Month contest for her beautifully stark and poignant photograph of a Naval Junior ROTC student undergoing inspection. The strong composition, the perfect cropping and the story being told by the photo’s contrast — the statue-still soldier and her…...

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KSPA adds monthly photo contest

Starting September 2009, KSPA begins its Photo of the Month contest, a monthly contest for high school photographers that is similar to the Story of the Month competition. President-Elect and Contest Chair Jill Chittum, the publications adviser at Blue Valley High School, proposed the idea at a KSPA meeting in…...

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Monthly competitions help students hone skills

KSPA is expanding its traditional “Story of the Month” competition to include monthly photo contests. The new Photo of the Month contest builds on what was just a single contest to encourage student photojournalists to submit photos every month for judging and recognition. Story of the Month categories now look…...

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