Waterloo West High’s Kaylynn Crawford has been named Iowa’s High School Journalist of the Year. She earns $500 and has the opportunity to represent Iowa in the National Journalist of the Year contest.
Crawford serves as the Online Editor-in-Chief for Wahawk Insider, Waterloo West’s student newspaper. You can check out Kaylynn’s portfolio out here.
The judging committee stated, “We have high hopes for journalism’s future if Kaylynn Crawford and the other students in the Journalism of the Year contest stay with it and give the public the benefit of their skills. Kaylynn shows a lot of solid work all the way around the Warhawk Insider, especially in editing, leadership in team building. She is carving her place in the history of Waterloo West’s growing journalism effort. We see that growth from the previous year. Well done.”
Crawford was a part of the Waterloo West’s second All News Team of the Year in a row this fall. Waterloo West also earned 22 yearbook awards at the Fall Conference.
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Runner Up: Anna Song (Iowa City West) earns second place and a $300 scholarship. The judging committee noted, “This was a solid entry in every phase. We thought that Anna had a strong vision of the entire picture when it comes to having a news organization and she exceeded expectations in a lot of areas — marketing and audience engagement, for example, hustling ads and telling her newsroom’s story to businesses. Nice job getting into Carver-Hawkeye Arena without a ticket to bag a Caitlin Clark story. We think she has a future in journalism.” Check out Anna’s portfolio here.
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3rd Place: Ella Johnson (Des Moines Dowling Catholic) earns third place and a $100 scholarship. The judging committee noted, “Ella has a strong understanding of journalism and how it can affect the norm and our in notion of what that norm is, in other words, the definition of news. She is solid all the way around in her entry. We like, in particular, how she responded to a well-sourced and well-written, fact-based story about AI that she said few people read: She revamped the look of the paper’s website and used design and visual appeal — real journalism tools — to get people to read important news stories.” Check out Ella’s portfolio here.
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Honorable Mention: Tai Caputo (Iowa City, City High) The judging committee noted, “Tai is strong in reporting and editing, especially, leadership and team building. She has demonstrated those skills at the City High Little Hawk, an Iowa City high school newspaper consistently recognized nationally for its high quality. Tai has an impressive scholastic record at City High and a clear vision about what success is when it comes to journalism. She has much more to accomplish in this profession. Check out Tai’s portfolio here.
