Bronx River High School student journalists earned multiple top honors in Baruch College’s Newsies awards while competing against some of the city’s most established high school journalism programs.
Staff members of the Bronx River News won first place in the citywide division for Localized National and International News and for Sports Writing. The school also earned first place in the New Newspaper Division for Local Arts Reporting and second place in Opinion Writing.
Baruch College’s High School Journalism Program hosts the awards, which recognize student journalists in categories like News, Feature Writing, Opinion and Photojournalism. This year’s competition included schools from all over New York City.
Lathania Williams, one of the recognized student journalists, spoke about the work behind her story about ICE’s impact on the community. “The hardest part was making sure I told the story in a way that was accurate but also respectful,” she said. “It’s a sensitive topic, so I wanted to do it justice.”
Xavier Lyons, who won first place citywide for Sports Writing for “$5.6 Million Grant Turns Field of No Hope into Field of New Dreams,” appreciated the recognition. “It was a really nice experience. I feel like my efforts were finally seen,” he said.
Teagan Connolly, Joseph Vazquez and Franklin Sosa Araujo, who also worked on the story, took home first-place medals too.
The team, which spent about a month working on the story, believe their work had an impact on the school. “We couldn’t even play football on the field before, so I feel like I helped bring attention to something that needed change,” Xavier said.
Md Ferdous, the paper’s editor-in-chief, won first place for a column about obsessive compulsive disorder,
while Franklin won a first place arts award in the new newspaper category for a story about a visit to Anne Frank exhibit in New York City.
“We applaud the efforts and talents of NYC public high school student journalists and their teacher newspaper advisors,” said Geanne Belton, director of Baruch College’s High School Journalism Program.
“I’m so proud of the Bronx River News staff,” said Deborah Porterfield, the school’s newspaper advisor who launched the newspaper five years ago. “They are an enthusiastic group of young journalists who display a sense of curiosity, persistence and attention to telling details.”
The conference also included workshops and discussions, including topics like journalism and artificial intelligence, giving students a chance to learn from professionals.
