On March 10, 2023, Saint Paul’s journalism team, “The Paper Wolf,” and Saint Paul’s media team, “Guerrilla Wolves,” won numerous awards at the annual Louisiana Scholastic Press Association (LSPA) Conference.
In total, Mr. Guarisco’s journalism class, “The Paper Wolf,” placed 1st or 2nd in 9/10 writing categories:
- Banks Neitzschman (’23) won 1st Place for Best Personal Column for his column “The Case Against the MCU”.
- Shawn Cooney (’24) won 1st Place for Editorial Writing for his column “Forever in Our Hearts: William Cooper Hall”.
- Sam Gold (’23) won 1st Place for Sports Season Preview for his column “Saint Paul’s Soccer 2022-23 Season Preview”.
- Ethan Stenger (’23) won 1st Place for Best Feature for his column “Creating the Movie “Where the Crawdads Sing””.
- Ethan Stenger (’23) won 1st Place for Best Sports Feature for his column “How Tua Tagovailoa’s Concussions Forced the NFL to Modify Its Concussion Protocols”.
- Nicholas Beaumont (’23) won 1st Place for Best Headline and Best Tournament Coverage for his column: “Saint Paul’s Marching Wolves Tame the Covington Lions!”
- Nicholas Beaumont (’23) won 2nd Place for Best News Story for his column: “Saint Paul’s Students Donate 10,200 Pounds of Food to Northshore Food Bank”.
- As a team, The Paper Wolf won 1st Place for Best Overall Newspaper and Best News Website.
Additionally, Mr. Pereira’s broadcast class earned 3rd Place in Best Overall Broadcast and placed in the following categories:
- Honorable Mention – News Story: “Monkeypox & Ukraine”
- 1st Place – Skit/Narrative/Short Film: “Part of the Game”
- 2nd Place – Skit/Narrative/Short Film: “I’m It”
- 1st Place – Videography: “The Deal”
Saint Paul’s senior and Guerilla Wolf, Alexander Fowler, was proud of his team’s accomplishments: “I’m glad that all the effort I put into my work, over the past year, was recognized at a college level. It feels even better to know that my media brothers and I obtained first place overall in the state for the movies we worked on effortlessly.”
Aside from the individual winners listed above, the journalism and broadcast teams combined to win 1st Place in Best Overall Media Sweepstakes, which was a sum total of all awards in all categories and mediums.
This LSPA Conference is like the state championship of media, and for the first time ever, Saint Paul’s walked out as state champions.
Schools around Louisiana were invited to attend and compete in the annual LSPA Conference, which was hosted by the Manship School of Mass Communication on LSU’s campus in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Twenty students from various Saint Paul’s media classes (Journalism I and II, Media II and III, and Yearbook) arrived at approximately 9:00 a.m. at the LSU Student Union. There, LSU graduate and Dallas Correspondent at KTVT, Kennedie Walker, was the keynote speaker. Walker spoke to all the attendees about her journey from LSU’s Tiger TV to one of the most prominent news stations in Dallas, Texas. Walker encouraged students to get involved and help make connections to find great internship opportunities like Walker did with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America.
Next, Saint Paul’s media classes took a tour of the Manship School of Mass Communication with a few mass communication seniors at LSU. Interestingly, Saint Paul’s journalism teacher Nicholas Guarisco and broadcast teacher Josh Pereira, who supervised the trip, both graduated from the Manship School of Mass Communication at LSU as well.
During the tour, students could see the newsrooms for the “LSU Reveille” and “The Mag.” Additionally, the tour brought students to the KLSU radio broadcasting station and Tiger TV broadcasting studio. Finally, the tour culminated with a quick stop to check out Mike VII. (aka “Mike the Tiger”).
The conference then had several breakout sessions that taught students about various forms of journalism, how broadcasting and media can impact our everyday lives, and how effectively communicating through both writing and speaking is challenging but essential. One presentation was given by the LSU admissions director about what LSU is looking for when students apply. Another presentation was given by local news anchor and sports personality, Chad Sabadie of WDSU, concerning the growth of sports journalism.
After the breakout sessions, every school in attendance sat down for a big luncheon, and also when the awards ceremony occurred. Each school’s journalism, yearbook, broadcast, and media classes had previously sent submissions for each defined category, and judges had about two months to determine winners.
Saint Paul’s junior Shawn Cooney celebrated the win: “I can’t describe what winning this award meant for me. It felt like the best way to commemorate Cooper’s life and share his story. It also filled me with wolf pride to see our Saint Paul’s journalism squad dominate.”
The Paper Wolf 