Unprecedented Journalism Honors

Both the 2009 ReMarker student newspaper and Marksmen yearbook again received Gold Crown awards on March 20th from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA), the highest honor given to student publications. St. Mark’s was the only school in the nation to have both its newspaper and yearbook receive Gold Crowns this year. This is the second consecutive year that both publications have received top honors.

 

Student publications from around the country competed for Gold Crowns. This year, there were 1771 total entries, representing public, private, parochial, and independent schools from across the United States. A committee consisting of journalism educators and professional journalists evaluated the publications on writing and editing, coverage, editorial leadership, design, graphics and artwork, and photography.

 

For The ReMarker, edited by Ryan Constantine '09, this is the seventh consecutive Gold Crown won by the publication, the longest streak in the association’s 85-year history. Thirteen school papers across the country earned this designation, and The ReMarker is the only one in Texas to be honored with a Gold Crown. Marksmen, edited by John Bryant '09, is one of only nine yearbooks in the nation to earn a Gold Crown, its third in the past five years.

 

In addition to the publications’ awards, Marksmen editor John Bryant earned eight Gold Circle awards for individual accomplishments, including four first place distinctions. Gold Circles for newspaper awards were announced in the fall of 2009 for last year’s work.

 

Gold Circle winners for Marksmen include:

 

First place Theme and concept John Bryant '09

First place Division page design John Bryant '09

First place Overall design of publication John Bryant '09

First place Advertising design John Bryant '09

First place Organization spread Daniel Rafkin '10 and Andrew Langdon '09

Second place Photography portfolio Blake Winston '09

Second place Academic photo Blake Winston '09

Third place Cover design John Bryant '09

Third place Photography portfolio Hayden Wolf '11

Third place Academic spread Jonathan Swygert '10 and Stephen Langdon '09

Third place People spread John Bryant '09

Honorable mention Table of contents design John Bryant '09

Honorable mention Feature presentation John Bryant '09

Honorable mention Infographic design Charles Branch '10 and Noah Bricker '10

 

Class of 2009 Alums who held key staff positions on The ReMarker include Dylan Birch, David Boa, Billy Eichenholz, Jason Hale, David Henry, Chris Rhoades, Sharan Shetty, Jeff Wilson, and Blake Winston. Current students who contributed to The ReMarker’s efforts include Aaron Campbell '10, Reece Cannady '11, L.C.Chandler '10, Ritodhee Chatterjee '10, Ben Chesnut '11, Alex Chuka '10, Andrew Dorsaneo '11, Tom Duffy '10, Adam Eichenwald '10, Getty Hall '10, Aidan Kirksey '11, Matt Miller '10, Spencer Heim '11, Dean Itani '13, Shibi Kannan '10, Chris Kim '11, Christian Larrave '11, John Michel '10, Blake Montgomery '10, John Montgomery 10, Dare Ogundipe '11, Sloan Rudberg '10, Shashwat Samudra '10, Robert Toto '11, Josh Way '11, Hayden Wolf '11, Zach Wolfe '10, and Jordan Young '11.

 

For the Marksmen, Class of 2009 alums who contributed to last year's publication include Chris Eubank, Blake Winston, David Henry, Andrew Langdon, Stephen Langdon, Justin Utay, Dylan Birch, David Boa, and Chris Rhoades. Current students who contributed to the Marksmen’s efforts include Sloan Rudberg '10, Noah Bricker '10, Daniel Rafkin '10, Charles Branch '10, Jonathan Swygert '10, Zach Jolly '10, Getty Hall'10, Matt Miller '10, Patrick McGee '11, Davis Johnson '10, Hayden Wolf '11, Fred Addy '10, Will McNamara '11, Ronan Anand '10, Ben Chesnut '11, Teddy Daniels '13, Will Raskin '11, JohnWetzel '11, and Ross Yudkin '11.

 

CSPA, headquarted at Columbia University in New York, is the largest scholastic press association in the United States and was founded in 1925. Over 1,800 schools maintain membership in the organization. Sixteen publications students and adviser Ray Westbrook attended the national convention in New York City over spring break.

 

Congratulations to the students and Mr. Westbrook for their remarkable accomplishments.