For more than a decade, the Stagg Line has collected a number of awards for its overall newspaper, individual student efforts, and its adviser. A number of esteemed organizations have consistently recognized our newspaper with top honors. Among the most prestigious:

• After 10 consecutive All-American awards, we were inducted into the NSPA Hall of Fame
• We have won five National Newspaper Pacemakers (considered the Pulitzer of scholastic journalism)
• One student, Tara Cuslidge, was named California Journalist of the Year and went on to be named runner-up National Journalist of the Year
• Adviser Don Bott was named national National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year

 

Dow Jones Newspaper Fund

National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year  Don Bott (2002)

 

National Scholastic Press Association

Pioneer Award 2007 Don Bott

Hall of Fame 2005 induction

All American 1994-1995 — present

National Newspaper Pacemaker Award 2008, 2003, 2001, 1996, 1995

Best of Show (Spring National Conventions)

2008 Anaheim — Second Place
2007 Denver — First
2006 San Francisco — Fourth
2005 Seattle — Second
2004 San Diego — Fourth
2003 Portland — Fifth
2002 Phoenix — First
2001 San Francisco — First
2000 Anaheim — Second
1999 Albuquerque — Sixth
1998 Seattle — First
1997 Phoenix — Third

National Story of the Year

2004 News story Katrina Wong, Honorable Mention
2001 News story Sarah Farnsworth, First Place

National Photo of the Year

2008 News photo Kelsey Hayashi, Second Place

Journalism Education Association

2008 Diversity Award
Don Bott

2002 High School Journalist of the Year
Runner up: Tara Cuslidge

San Francisco 2006 Write-off Awards
Entertainment Writing – Excellent: Daryl Bunao
Graphic Design – Honorable Mention: Ted Nishimura

Albuquerque 1999 Write-off Awards
Freehand Art — Excellent: Rob Gaedtke
Editorial — Excellent: Francine Martinez

San Francisco 1996 Write-off Awards
Features — Excellent: Jennifer Swartzer
News — Honorable Mention: Molly Mekjavich
Page Design — Honorable Mention: Chris Depner

 

Journalism Education Association of Northern California

California Journalist of the Year
2002 – First Place: Tara Cuslidge
2006 – Third Place: Anna Belle Peterson
2001 – Honorable Mention: Francine Martinez
1998 – Third Place: Jennifer Swartzer

JEANC Awards

Fall 2007 mail-in winners
Editorial Writing – First: Chris Quibol
Infographic – First: Maly Boonsalat & Kelsey Hayashi
Newswriting – Second: Chris Quibol
Sports Writing – Third: Ted Nishimura
Photo Illustration – Third: Ted Nishimura

Fall 2008 mail-in winners
Column Writing – Second: Erin Lund
Front Page Design – Third: Erin Lund
News Photo – Third: Junifer Mamsaang
Newswriting – Honorable Mention: Ana Laura Gonzalez-Coria
Centerspread Design – Honorable Mention: Vaneza McDonald

State Convention Awards  •  Sacramento 2004
First Place, Best of the West
Northern California Adviser of the Year – Don Bott

On the spot winners
Newswriting – Superior: Violet Salazar
Graphic Design/art – Superior: Chris Wihlidal
Editorial Writing – Excellent: Emily Ferrill
Review Writing – Excellent: Anna Belle Peterson

State Convention Awards  •  San Jose 1999
First place, Best of the West

On the spot winners
Freehand Art – Excellent: Rob Gaedtke
Editorial – Excellent: Francine Martinez
News – Honorable Mention: Nancy Zhang
Sports – Honorable Mention: Joe Willhite
Photo – Honorable Mention: Rebecca Savage

State Convention Awards  •  San Jose 1997

On the spot winners
Critical Review – Superior: Joe Forbes
Sports – Honorable Mention: Candice O'Hern
News – Honorable Mention: Megan Shubert

San Joaquin Valley Scholastic Press Association
Annual Fresno Conference

Sweepstakes Trophy
2007, 2006, 2004, 2001

All-Valley Newspaper
2009, 2008, 2007, 2003, 2002, 2000, 1996

Journalist of the Year
2005 - Chris Wihlidal

Mail-in entries

News Story
First: Katrina Wong (2004), Jessica Loughlin (1999)
Second: Ana Laura Gonzalez-Coria (2009), Junifer Mamsaang (2008), Anna Belle Peterson (2006)
Third: Sarah Farnsworth (2001), Allison Soon (1998)
Honorable Mention: Naomi Midura (2003)

Page 1 Design (contest introduced in 2008)
First: Erin Lund (2009)
Second: Erin Lund (2008)

Inside Page Design (contest introduced in 2008)
Second: Vaneza McDonald (2009)

Page Design (contest eliminated after 2007)
First: Erin Lund (2009), Rachel Larsen (2001), Rachel Gregorn (1998)
Second: Joey Willhite (2000)
Honorable Mention: Sarah Gloria (2007, 2006), Tia Rath (2004), Christa Elliott (2003), Carolyn Lucas (1999), Sarah Hartmann (1997)

Editorial
First Place: Candice O’Hern (1999), Hannah Schardt (1995)
Second Place: Naomi Midura
Honorable Mention: Tia Rath (2004), Daniel Pech (2009)

Column
First: Erin Lund (2009), Rashea Gaines (2002), Althea Crichlow (2001), Chris Johnston (1996)
Second: Lisette Saldaña (2007), Thongthip Duangsawat (1997)
Third: Violet Salazar (2006), Bessie Hunt (2004)
Honorable Mention: Anna Belle Peterson (2005), Alexandria Lau (2003), Mario Delucchi (1999)

Topic/Issue Feature
First: Alexandria Lau (2003)
Second: Sheryl Cruz/Julia Mathias (1999), Thongthip Duangsawat (1998)
Third: Erin Lund (2009), Chris Quibol (2007), Danielle Dobales (2006), Katrina Wong (2005), Joey Willhite (2000), Mike Hilal/Robin Kobrin (1997), Jennifer Swartzer (1996)
Honorable Mention: Rachel Larsen (2001)

Feature Profile
First: Kayla Giussi (2005)
Second: Justine Morales (2009)
Honorable Mention: Taylor Backman (2008), Violet Salazar (2006), Jamie Shubert (2004)

Sports Story (replaced sports news and sports features beginning 2008)
First: Ted Nishimura (2008)

Sports News (contest eliminated after 2007)
First: Mike Belasco (2005), Anthony Bott (2003)
Second: Mike Belasco (2006), George Leicht (2004)

Sports Feature (contest eliminated after 2007)
First: Russell Calvan (2007), Angel Lam (2006)
Second: Mike Belasco (2004, 2005), Jake Leicht (2001)
Third: Anthony Bott (2003)
Honorable Mention: Carolyn Lucas (2000)

Review
First: Leah Burchard (1996)
Second: Travis Compton (2009), Stephanie de Leon (2008), Anna Belle Peterson (2004), Ashley Scott (2003), Jennifer Swartzer (1998), Chris Johnston (1995)
Third: Anna Belle Peterson (2006)
Honorable Mention: Chris Quibol (2007)

News/Feature Photo (contest introduced in 2008)
First: Kelsey Hayashi (2008)
Honorable Mention: Tiffany Jamison

Sports Photo (contest introduced in 2008)
Honorable Mention: Dawn Griep (2009)

Photo (contest eliminated after 2007)
First: Joe Forbes (1999)
Second: Mike Bott (2006), Lindy Verkerk (2004)
Third: Ashley Scott (2005), Rashea Gaines (2001)
Honorable Mention: Rob Gaedtke (2000), Anthony Bott (2003), Gary Collins (1996)

Display Ad (contest eliminated after 2007)
Second: Chris Wihlidal (2005), Mario Delucchi (2000)
Third: Mario Delucchi (2001), Joe Forbes (1998)
Honorable Mention: Jennifer Loughlin (1999)

Artwork (contest introduced in 2008)
No winner yet!

Graphic/Photo-illustration (contest introduced in 2008)
Second: Kelsey Hayashi and Maly Boonsalat (2008)
Third: Michael Nishimura (2009)

On-the-spot contests

Newspaper Page Design
First: Katrina Wong (2004)
Second: Christa Elliott (2003), Tara Cuslidge (2002)
Third: Erin Lund (2009)
Honorable Mention: Michael Nishimura (2009), Sarah Gloria (2007), Adler Chan (1999), Rachel Gregorn (1998)

Newswriting
First: Chris Wihlidal (2005)
Second: Erin Lund (2009)
Honorable Mention: Ana Laura Gonzalez-Coria (2008), Violet Salazar (2006), Rachel Larsen (1999)

Editorial Writing
First: Chris Wihlidal (2005)
Second: Christina Siewit (2004)
Third: Hannah Schardt (1995)
Honorable Mention: Naomi Midura (2002), Francine Martinez (1999)

Feature Writing
Second: Emily Burchard (2001)

Yearbook page design (Contest eliminated after 2007)
First: Susan Chi (2007), Ted Nishimura (2006), Tara Cuslidge (2002), Joey Willhite (2001)
Second: Daryl Bunao (2007), Christa Elliott (2003), Tara Cuslidge (2001)

Sports Writing
First: Chris Quibol (2006), Sylvia Figueroa (1998)
Second: Nancy Cen (2007), Sheryl Cruz (1999)
Third: Joey Willhite (2001)
Honorable Mention: Ana Laura Gonzalez-Coria (2008)

Ad Design (Contest eliminated after 2007)
Honorable Mention: Ted Nishimura (2006), Jennifer Loughlin (1999)

Photo
First: Mike Bott (2006), Alexandria Lau (2001)
Second: Lisette Saldaña (2007)
Third: Alexandria Lau (2002)
Honorable Mention: Michael Nishimura (2009)

California Newspaper Professionals Association

Conference Awards  •  Sacramento 2005

Editorial writing
Third: Kayla Giussi
Sports writing           
Second: Mike Belasco

 

Columbia Scholastic Press Association Awards

New York City 2006

Spot News Photo of the Year (Color) – First Place: Lisette Saldaña
Sports Page Design – Second Place: Danielle Dobales
High School Silver Newspaper Crown

New York City 1997

Single-page Package — Second place: Shannon Grable
Column — Third Place: Chris Johnston

 

Record Excellence-in-Journalism Awards

For two years the local newspaper, The Record, has sponsored a countywide contest. Both years, the Stagg Line has cleaned up with awards, especially in the spring of 2008 with three first-place winners and a clean sweep of the photography category. To see the actual stories and photos, click here to get to the link.

Spring 2008

News Writing
Second: Ana Laura Gonzalez
Certificate of Merit: Maly Boonsalat
Feature Writing
First: Justine Morales
Second: Junifer Mamsaang
Certificate of Merit: Selene Rodriguez
Sports Writing
Third: Michael Nishimura
Certificate of Merit: Ana Laura Gonzalez
Certificate of Merit: Maly Boonsalat
Review Writing
Second: Stephanie de Leon
Opinion Writing
Second: Junifer Mamsaang
Photography
First: Tiffany Jamison
Second: Vanessa Ortiz
Third: Kelsey Hayashi
Sports Writing
Third: Michael Nishimura
Certificate of Merit: Ana Laura Gonzalez
Layout and Design
First: Erin Lund

Spring 2007

Opinion Writing
First: Chris Quibol
Second: Susan Chi
Photography
Honorable Mention: Ted Nishimura
Layout and Design
First: Sarah Gloria
Second: Daryl Bunao