ThreeSixty Journalism received notice by mail today from the Minnesota Newspaper Association that nine of our fantastic reporters won awards in the 2011 Better College Newspaper Contest. That’s right, our high school reporters have won awards in a college-level competition! Links to winning stories are below.

Update: Last night, Jan. 26, we attended the Minnesota Newspaper Association’s Better Newspaper Contest and received our awards. We received five first place awards, three second place awards, two honorable mentions and a Special Recognition of Excellence for our entire publication.

To see more photos from the event, visit our Facebook page. And while you’re there, become a fan!

First place winners

Government/Public Affairs Reporting
Sabrina Kennelly
Judge’s comments: Good coverage of the issues with compelling numbers and facts.

Business Story
Olivia Deans (Intro camp ’10)
Judge’s comments: Interesting topic, lede draws in the reader. Good job adding a variety of voices and sources to the story.

Human Interest Story
Mary Meehan
Judge’s comments: The best lead of the group. Grabbed my attention from the get-go and then flowed very well to the end of the story.

Sports Story
Kelly Schueler (Spring News Team ’11 and Intro camp ’11)
Judge’s comments: A well-executed anecdotal lead flowed into a well-reported, two-source story.

Social Issues Story
Grace Pastoor
Judge’s comments: Good reporting, clearly based on good advising. Good job.

Second place winners

Social Issues Story
Ariel Nash (Intermediate camp ’07, Editorial Board ’08-‘09, and participated in a special summer project in ’09 on teen finances)
Judge’s comments: Well-written story on an interesting topic. A story that should be told!

Business Story
Asma Adam
Judge’s comments: Very strong writing. Timely topic — “green” business is a popular and important topic, these days. Interesting story.

Government/Public Affairs Reporting
Ty Heimerl
Judge’s comments: Coverage of a very interesting topic with clear, concise writing.

Stories that received honorable mentions

Sports Story
David Gustafson
Judge’s comments: A solid report on a quirky event. Story was well-reported, however it was a bit stiff. This of all stories is one to have fun with.

Human Interest Story
Grace Pastoor
Judge’s comments: An overall interesting portrait of a unique young man.

ThreeSixty Journalism’s print publication also won a brand new award for general excellence. Because we are are program for high schoolers at a college, judges didn’t feel they could award us a placing. But the judges were so impressed by our publication, they gave us a Special Recognition of Excellence.

Here is what the judges had to say about our program: Contest judges were very impressed with the General Excellence entry submitted by ThreeSixty Journalism, a special program for high school student journalists based at the University of St. Thomas, and wanted to give it special recognition in the awards program.

Journalism today demands innovation. And that is what ThreeSixty brings. Not only is it a unique collaborative project, but it is also excellent story telling — in text and visuals. The student journalists involved with this publication have put together a group of stories about who we are and what we do in a way that compels you to keep turning the page. Bravo.

We are so honored, and extremely proud of our reporters!

Lynda McDonnell, executive director
Annie Nelson, editor
Andrea Salazar, marketing coordinator
Laura Linder-Scholer, volunteer coordinator