Eleven OTT writers win state awards

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

Nine OTT writers win Bay Area journalism awards

Nine Oaktown Teen Times reporters from four Oakland high schools are on a list of winners in a prestigious Bay Area journalism contest.

The students will find out just what they've won in the National Federation of Press Women's annual contest during a May 17 ceremony at the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco.

The NFPW released its list of 142 winners on May 7. OTT winners are Ameriah Hayes and DeVonna Atkins of Castlemont Business and Information Technology School, Jose Alvarenga, Jack Mejia and Fuey Saechao of Fremont Federation's Media Academy, Onisha Barham, Thao Tran and Rosey Uribe of Oakland High and Monica Floyd of Skyline High.

The awards will follow a press conference and tour in the renovated Conservatory of Flowers, located in Golden Gate Park.

Writers receive national attention

A half dozen stories by Oaktown Teen Times writers have gone national.

The stories were picked up for the national edition of http://www.my.hsj.org/, a Web site run by the American Society of New Editors that hosts nearly 3,000 school newspapers.

"Based on their quality and appeal to a broad teen readership. ... these selections [were chosen and] represent stories that were the most interesting or moving of the week," according to ASNE officials in charge of the teen journalism site.

Oakland stories chosen for the national edition were: "From zoo critters to cool fashion: Senior Projects break ground, develop talents," by Ellissia Hill, MetWest High; "Principal returns to school after 10-day suspension," by Isabel Rodriguez-Vega and Eugene W. Lau, Skyline High "Oakland Tech grad Rickey Henderson selected for baseball hall of fame," by Hiroyuki Ito, Oakland Tech "Oakland teens shocked by police killings," by Gabrielle Carbaloc, Karina Gonzalez, Brisa Padilla and Dolores Quintara, Unity High School, "'Watchmen' works and not just for comic fans," by Bradley Izaguirre, Unity High School and "BART shooting reveals community mistrust of cops," by Javier Panzar, Skyline High School.

OTT editors recognized by school board

Oaktown Teen Times editors Beatrice Motamedi and Lisa Shafer received recognition from the Oakland Unified School District board at a June 10 meeting.

District spokesman Troy Flint said that he had been impressed with the quality of reporting by student journalists as they gather news about the district.

OTT students win NFPW writing awards

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF PRESS WOMEN -- Bay Area winners

OTT writer Ronald Johnson of Media Academy won first place in features writing for "Oakland develops 'Great Debaters,'" a story on the inaugural year of the Bay Area Urban Debate League.

Another first place for OTT work went to the editorial board of the Skyline Oracle. Their editorial, "Blocking the web limits free speech," was reprinted in the February issue of the OTT. Students contributing to the editorial were Javier Panzar, Diamond Broussard, Sam Lubin and Isabel Rodriguez-Vega.

The Oaktown Teen Times also picked up a pair of third place prizes from NFPW. Emely Srimoukda of Media Academy won third for her news story, "Define Google: learning tool or off-limits?" And Alenna So of Oakland High won third for her column "Sadness, sorrow facts of life in Darfur."

Congratulations to all!