Press groups recognize Hatters’ Herald for achievements

Staff photo

From left, photo chief Shannon Ahearn, staff writer Elizabeth Hadden, editor-in-chief Katie Walsh, sports editor Hisham Rushaidat, and arts & clubs editor Naomi Thomas were honored with achievement awards from the New England Scholastic Press Association.

Staff Report
May 24, 2018

The Hatters’ Herald has earned the New England Scholastic Press Association’s top awards – “Highest Achievement” and “All-New England” — in its class for 2017-18.

The digital news outlet of Danbury High School, rebranded as hattersherald.com and led this year by Editor-in-Chief Katie Walsh, competes in the Class I Online division (schools in New England with more than 1,000 students).

Awards were announced May 4 at the organization’s 70th annual conference in Boston. High schools throughout New England competed for recognition in outstanding broadcast, print, online, productions and publications categories.

Editor-in-Chief Katherine Walsh said she was proud of this year’s achievements. “The staff has worked really hard to produce quality newsworthy stories and is continuing to work hard on our end-of the year stories,” Walsh said.

In addition, Special Achievement awards – designed to identify and reward excellence in individual work and teamwork for New England secondary school media – were presented. Journalistic pieces from May 2017 to March 2018 were eligible. DHS student-journalists were recognized in six categories:

  • Naomi Thomas: Special Achievement, Video, “New fashion club serves as outlet for creativity”
  • Naomi Thomas: Special Achievement, News, “Dreamers express dismay over Trump’s DACA policy”
  • Hisham Rushaidat: Special Achievement, Sports, “Boys’ sprinters win national title at New Balance Indoors”
  • Jazzlyn Torres: Special Achievement, Features, “Wade to paint on a fresh canvas as he takes disability”
  • Elizabeth Hadden: Special Achievement, Features, “Parker helps others diagnosed with Kennedy’s Disease”
  • Shannon Ahearn: Special Achievement, Features, “Danbury mentoring program fosters 10-year relationship”

In addition to the NESPA awards, staffers Meghan Edwards and Elizabeth Hadden this year were awarded Best of SNO awards for excellence in writing. SNO, or School Newspapers Online, is the host site of hattersherald.com.

The DHS newspaper staff earns elective credit by taking Journalism I or Journalism II. The practicum coursework allows students to work in a real-world environment of a journalist to produce content for hattersherald.com. Those interested in working for the newspaper should see Mr. Ross in C337.