The St. Paul’s student media program recently received top honors from scholastic press associations at both the state and national level. The Paper Wolf news site and the Guerrilla Wolves broadcast team were both honored by the Louisiana Scholastic Press Association (LSPA) in November. In addition, The Paper Wolf was nationally recognized by the Columbia University Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) in December.

“The student media program at St. Paul’s has been growing and developing in leaps and bounds in recent years,” Journalism teacher Christi Simoneaux said, “and these accolades represent the hard work and talent of a lot of individuals who work well together as a news team. I’m incredibly proud of all of them.”

In a nationwide critique conducted by CSPA throughout the fall semester, The Paper Wolf was judged in three separate categories, earning the Gold Medalist designation for the third consecutive year. In two of the three categories, The Paper Wolf received All-Columbian Honors, the highest designation awarded. In total, The Paper Wolf earned 950 out of 1,000 points, placing the publication in the top 95th percentile among high school digital news sites nationwide.

On a state level, St. Paul’s student media won first place for Best Overall Student Media Program, with a total of 43 individual and group awards, during the LSPA conference held on the Louisiana State University campus on Nov. 5, 2015. These awards came from a combination of onsite competitions in addition to awards for submitted entries from both The Paper Wolf and Guerrilla Wolves.

“I was dazzled by the number of awards your students brought home from LSPA last week,” Jerry Ceppos, Dean of the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication, wrote in a congratulatory letter following the LSPA conference.

At the LSPA conference, The Paper Wolf won first place for Best Online/Digital Newspaper and Best Social Media Presence, as well as third place for Best Newspaper.

“In the ‘Best Newspaper’ category, there are a number of criteria that we don’t meet because The Paper Wolf, despite the name, is not a printed publication,” Simoneaux said. “The fact that the Paper Wolf staff scored enough points to earn third place with the writing alone is quite impressive.”

LSPA Newspaper Awards – The Paper Wolf

In total, Paper Wolf staff members won 35 individual awards for writing, photography and graphics, placing first in 21 of 28 eligible categories, as well as sweeping first through third in both the “News Writing” and “Advance News Story” categories. The news team was led by Managing Editor Nick Ashton, who personally took home 12 awards.

News Writing:

• 1st Place – Parking Situation Peels Out of Control – by Tyler Petro
  
• 2nd Place – Dumbledore’s Army Sees Drastic Change – by AJ LaCroix
  
• 3rd Place – Committee to Decide Fate of Benilde Hall – by Nick Ashton
  

Advance News Story:

• 1st Place – Crawfish Cook-Off to Spice Up Weekend – by Nick Ashton
  
• 2nd Place – Campus Luminarias to Light the Way – by Adam Satterlee
  
• 3rd Place – Wolf Jam to Return to Campus Friday – by Casey Fitzmaurice
  

News Editorial:

• 1st Place – Sister Louise Aids Those in Need – by Nick Ashton
  
• 2nd Place – Man on Campus: The New Gym (with videos) – by Parker Layman
  

News Feature Writing:

• 1st Place – Junior Drum Major Working to Overcome Illness – by Kyle Hladky
  

In-Depth Individual Writing:

• 1st Place – Marching Bands Keep City Spirit Alive – by Nick Ashton
  
• 2nd Place – Unsung Heroes Maintain Student Life – by Jordan Kliebert
  

In-Depth Team Writing:

• 1st Place – Top 5 True SPS Urban Legends – by Carson Caulfied & Nick Ashton
  

News/Spot Photography:

• 1st Place – Putt-Putt at the Mole-ympics – by Jordan Kliebert 
• 3rd Place – Art Building Makes Way for Gym – by Nick Ashton 

Feature Photograph:

• 1st Place – St. Paul’s Acquires a Choir – by Jordan Kliebert
• 2nd Place – Soccer Drumline – by Nick Ashton

Wild or Spot Photo:

• 1st Place – Principals and Busted Pipes – by Luc Hebert
  
• 2nd Place – Robo-Wolves in Action – by Ealon Boudreaux

Sports Photo:

• 1st Place – Weight Room – by Nick Ashton
  
• 2nd Place – Offensive Strategy – by Carson Caulfield
  

Photo Essay:

• 1st Place – Biology Classes ‘Dissect’ Crawfish – by Nick Ashton
  

Sports Profile:

• 1st Place – Soccer Drumline Marches to Own Beat – by Nick Ashton
  
• 2nd Place – SPS Swimming Legend to Head Aqua Wolves – by Kyle Hladky
  

Sports Feature:

• 1st Place – Rugby Wolves have High Tea – by Adam Satterlee
  

Sports Column:

• 1st Place – How the Saints Can Get their Halos Back – by Casey Fitzmaurice
  
• 2nd Place – Professional Boxing Plagued by Problems – by Nico Arcuri
  

Reader’s Aids:

• 1st Place – Class of 2015 Post-Graduation Plans – by Adam Satterlee 
• 2nd Place – Literary Rally Results – by Nico Arcuri 

LSPA Broadcast Awards – Guerrilla Wolves

The Guerrilla Wolves broadcast news team came away with four awards for their weekly segments of Guerrilla Wolves News.

Sportscast – 1st Place:

Sports Feature – 3rd Place:

Videography – 2nd Place:

Newscast – 3rd Place:

LSPA Onsite Competition Awards

The onsite awards were awarded to winning students who participated in a variety of programs during the day throughout the LSPA conference. The contests ranged from cutline and headline writing to editing news stories for grammar and AP (Associated Press) Style.

Copy Editing

• 1st Place – Nick Ashton
• Honorable Mention – AJ LaCroix

News Writing

• 1st Place – Nick Ashton
• 2nd Place – Luc Hebert

Broadcast Writing

• 1st Place – Parker Layman
• 2nd Place – Nick Ashton

Photo Editing

• 3rd Place – Jordan Kliebert