Eleven Oaktown Teen Times students picked up awards at a ceremony for California high school journalists at San Francisco's Conservartory of Flowers on May 17.This year's contest, sponsored by the Northern California Press Women, included entries from all over California because the director of the southern chapter reportedly fell ill and could not run the regional contest.
Taking home second place prizes were Jose Alvarenga and Fuey Saechao of Fremont Federation's Media Academy and Monica Floyd of Skyline High. A judge called Alvarenga and Saechao's feature story "Teens Warm Up Laborer’s Days” one of the top stories in the contest. Judge Jim Finefrock wrote that Floyd's opinion piece "Generation Ignorant Misuses Tech Tools" was "classic."
Judges also were impressed with work done by students at Oakland High and Castlemont Business, Information and Technology School (CBITS) for the news story "Two students fatally shot in 16-day span" and awarded them a third-place prize. Writers were Onisha Barham, Thao Tran and Rosey Uribe of Oakland High and Devonna Atkins and Ameriah Hayes of CBITS.
Jack Mejia, another Media Academy student, won a third prize for her feature story "Can vampires build your SAT vocab?" and Oakland Unity High students Karina Gonzalez and Jessica Ortega won an honorable mention in features for "The Quinceanera – pricey rite of passage."
Before the awards, students, advisers and family members received a tour of the Conservatory of Flowers, part of the Golden Gate Park that needed to be rebuilt when strong winds blew out the structure's glass windows in 1995
