FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASESt. Joe journalism students honored at state high school press convention
MADISON, Miss. (Monday, Oct. 31, 2022) – St. Joseph Catholic School senior Gia Picarella won first place in a statewide competition for a sports story she did as part of the award-winning, student-produced, weekly newscast “Bruin News Now.”
Picarella’s award was one of 10 St. Joe won at the Mississippi Scholastic Press Association Fall 2022 Convention on Wednesday, Oct. 26, on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. The MSPA is the state organization for high school journalists.
“I’m so excited that my story won,” Picarella said. “I worked hard before the school year started on the St. Joe football story for our back-to-school edition of our newscast. I wanted students on the first day of school to have an accurate and entertaining preview of our football season. The story was a lot of fun to produce.”
Picarella and other St. Joe journalism students received their honors during an awards program that capped the MSPA fall convention. More than 400 high school journalism students from across Mississippi, including 33 from St. Joe, attended the one-day event.
St. Joseph Catholic School offers several elective classes for students including Broadcast Journalism and Print Journalism.
St. Joe journalism students produce “Bruin News Now” every Friday; the “BNN Midweek Paws” news update on Wednesdays; The Shield yearbook every fall; and live radio and streaming video coverage of regular season varsity football, basketball and baseball games.
St. Joseph Catholic School, founded in 1870 by the Sisters of Mercy, offers seventh- through 12th-grade students 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 Southern Association of Colleges and Schools – the accrediting arm of Cognia.
At the MSPA convention, students attended breakout sessions to improve their yearbook and video newscasts; outline journalism education and career opportunities after high school; and other topics related to high school journalism.
The day ended with a keynote speech from longtime Associated Press reporter Emily Wagster Pettus and an awards program.
The Best of Show awards honored work created from the start of the school year through Oct. 23, the Sunday before the convention, in a limited number of print and multimedia categories. Here are the Best of Show awards St. Joe students won:
- Multimedia Sports Story: Winner, Gia Picarella, “Bruin Football Preview”
- Multimedia Creative: Finalist, Trey Compretta, “Compretta with the Weather”
- Multimedia Broadcast Best of Show: Finalist, “Bruin News Now”
- News Photo: Finalist, Jeanne Beebe
- Feature Photo: Finalist, Jeanne Beebe
- Portrait Photo: Finalist: Emma O’Brien
Here are the Best of Mississippi awards, which honored yearbook work during the previous school year.
- Academic Photo: Finalist, Ashmit Malhotra, “Youth Legislature”
- Feature Photo: Finalist, Jeanne Beebe, “School Spirit”
- Yearbook Feature Spread: Finalist, Camryn Cassreino, “St. Joe Goes to Mardi Gras”
- Yearbook Sports Spread: Finalist, Camryn Cassreino, “Bruin Track”
“Our high school journalism students do an amazing job in photography, the yearbook, a news website, sports broadcasting and their weekly video newscast,” said Dr. Dena Kinsey, principal of St. Joe.
“These awards are just a small fraction of the outstanding work they do every day,” she said. “And they are just one example of the hard-working, dedicated students at St. Joe who are prepared for the rigor of college life by learning valuable life skills.”
PHOTO CAPTION (Photo on right)
St. Joseph Catholic School students won awards at the Mississippi Scholastic Press Association Fall 2022 Convention on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. Pictured here are Gia Picarella, left, first place for Multimedia Sports Story in the Best of Show Awards; Ashmit Malhotra, finalist for Academic Photo in the Best of Mississippi Awards; Emma O’Brien, finalist for Portrait Photo in Best of Show Awards; Jeanne Beebe, finalist for News Photo and Feature Photo in Best of Show Awards and finalist for Feature Photo in Best of Mississippi Awards; Trey Compretta, finalist for Multimedia Creative in Best of Show Awards; and Paige Loyacono and Adriana Terrazas, editors for the Bruin News Now episode of Friday, Oct. 21, 2022, that was a finalist for the Multimedia Broadcast Best of Show Awards.
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