St. Joe students win national journalism awards
St. Joseph Catholic School student journalists took home three major awards from the four-day national high school journalism convention that ended Sunday.
The awards were from the National Student Media Contest – a highlight of the Journalism Education Association/National Scholastic Press Association fall 2024 convention. More than 3,600 students from 50 states and eight foreign countries attended.
“This was an impressive showing by our student journalists especially considering it was the first time St. Joe competed on this national scale and attended the annual national convention,” said Dr. Dena Kinsey, St. Joe principal. “I couldn’t be more proud of these students or Mr. Cassreino, their adviser.”
Senior Fletcher Goodwin received an excellent rating, the second highest, in the Broadcast Commercial/PSA category. Goodwin won for an ad he created promoting the Bruin Shop, St. Joe’s campus store that sells school-logo merchandise. Click here to view the ad.
Sophomore Camp Hlavac received an honorable mention for a feature story he did for the student-produced newscast “Bruin News Now.” The story was about the return of the Bleacher Creatures, a student spirit group for football games. Click here to view the story.
Sophomore Jason Buckley received an honorable mention for a videography project he created based on the theme of “independence.” Buckley’s entry told a story through video and natural sound – and no dialog or background music. Click here to view the project.
St. Joseph Catholic School, founded in 1870 by the Sisters of Mercy, offers seventh- through 12th-grade students of all faith backgrounds a rigorous college prep curriculum grounded in the teachings of the Catholic Church.
St. Joe, 308 New Mannsdale Road in Madison just west of the Interstate 55-Mississippi 463 interchange, is accredited by the Mid-South Association of Independent Schools and Cognia.
Besides offering core academic classes of English, math, science, history and theology, St. Joe students can enroll in several electives including Broadcast Journalism, Sports Broadcasting and Print Journalism.
Student Media classes publish an award-winning yearbook, The Shield; an award-winning weekly video newscast, “Bruin News Now”; a Monday sports preview show, “What’s Bruin at the Joe”; and a Wednesday news update, the “BNN Midweek Paws.”
In addition to winning awards at the JEA/NSPA convention, St. Joe students also produced a special edition of “Bruin News Now” filmed in part on location in Philadelphia. That newscast was released on the BNN YouTube Channel Friday, Nov. 8.
“Our hard-working, dedicated student journalists had an amazing showing at the national high school journalism convention,” said Terry Cassreino, the journalism teacher and the school’s communications director.
“They are well deserving of the awards they received. And having an opportunity to film a student-produced newscast on location in Philadelphia was something our students couldn’t pass up. They no doubt were up for the challenge – and did a great job.”