CSPA Recognizes Westwood Horizon with Silver Crown
Shreya Dasari ’17, Ms. Lanie Catuogno, Jenny Xu ’19, and Emily Lu ’19 hold their Silver Crown and stand with CSPA Executive Director Edmund Sullivan. Photo credit to CSPA.
WestwoodHorizon.com was recently awarded its first Silver Crown from the Columbia Press Scholastic Association (CSPA), one of the highest recognitions for a high school digital publication. Staff members traveled to Columbia University for the CSPA’s 94th annual Spring Scholastic Convention to receive the honor.
The Crown Award recognizes overall excellence in design, photography, concept, coverage, and writing from the 2016-2017 school year. Nineteen digital publications were chosen out of 1,100 total eligible for judging, and some were given Gold Crowns while the others received Silver. The honor marks the first national award the five-year old online news site has received.
The Crown Award recognizes overall excellence in design, photography, concept, coverage, and writing.
“It’s really just a reminder of how much more we have to attain in the future and it’s such a good starting point,” former Editor-in-Chief Shreya Dasari ‘17 said. “As our first Crown Award, it shows we have even more places to go from here.”
The ceremony rewarded other forms of student publishing with Crowns, including magazines and yearbooks. Attendees gave a standing ovation when The Eagle Eye, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School’s hybrid news publication, was awarded a Gold Crown. Stoneman Douglas was struck with tragedy last month when a violent shooting occurred on campus, killing 17.
“It was a really powerful moment just because the fight for gun control really lays on the students and high schools right now,” Dasari said. “As a high school journalism organization, it’s us who have been telling us the story and covering walkouts, so it was really powerful and it was cool to see that all of these high school journalists are part of the fight.”
While the Westwood Horizon has been around since the opening of Westwood HIgh School in 1981, the online format was launched a mere five years ago by then-new adviser Lanie Catuogno and student editors Stephen Chao ’14, Sujaan Lal ’14. The site was strengthened and revamped by Mackenzie Farkus ’16 and Tristan Siefert ’16. Dasari took over as Editor-in-Chief for the 2016-17 year, and was followed by current chief Emily Lu ’19. I feel like we’re just getting started.
“The students of Westwood Student Press are remarkable,” Catuogno said. “They have worked hard to establish an online presence. There has been a lot of new information to learn–new software, new techniques, new ways to tell stories. They have been open to all that and have really shown that they can excel. “
The Westwood Student Press is a collaboration of students who work on photography, design, news writing, video, yearbook, and more. Together, they produce both the online news and the yearbook. Students in the program are free to specialize or diversify as much as they like. Expectations are high now that the staff has begun to earn national recognition.
“There is no limit to what we can do with this group of students,” Catuogno said. “I feel like we’re just getting started.”
![In their full runway outfits, (from left) Audrey Lee 25, Olivia Lucy Teets, 25, Fashion Design teacher Ms. Judy Chance, and Xueying Lili Yang pose for a photo. All three girls made it to Austin Fashion Week by getting in the top 10 in a previous runway show held by Shop LC.
[I like my students] creativity and how they can look at a fabric and make it their own, Ms. Chance said.](https://westwoodhorizon.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_9686-e1714088765730-565x600.jpeg)
