Hawaii Baptist again tops high school journalism awards

Hawaii Baptist Academy’s student newspaper, the Eagle Eye, pulled off a three-peat Wednesday and was named Hawaii’s best high school journalism program for a third consecutive year.

The Eagle Eye and its 21 staff members — most of them seniors — brought the title home to their Nuuanu campus, beating out six other private schools and eight public schools. Mililani High School was named runner-up, followed by Sacred Hearts Academy in third place.

The annual Hawaii High School Journalism Awards ceremony, held at the Pagoda Hotel, also included awards for categories ranging from blogs to infographics to videos to newswriting.

Students from each publication or website also were honored as most valuable staff members.

The awards are sponsored by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and are presented by the Hawaii Publishers Association. Morris Visitor Publications provided $200 to Hawaii Baptist Academy.

Before Wednesday’s luncheon began, the Eagle Eye’s faculty adviser, Eunice Sim, said, “It’s cool to see so many kids dedicated to journalism.”

Sim called it “an interesting challenge” to be teaching young journalists in an era where President Donald Trump has called the media “the enemy of the American people” who peddle “fake news.”

Sim has responded by encouraging her student-journalists to be reporters first, even in opinion pieces, and “not just make sweeping comments.”

The experience so far has made co-editor Joel Lau, a 16-year-old junior, interested in pursuing a career in print journalism so he can “bring truth to the people” and “fight ignorance.”

At its core, Lau said, journalism “works to help others. … It’s doing something important.”

His co-editor, senior Kayci Kumashiro, also created this year’s winning poster for the Hawaii High School Journalism Awards.

This year’s theme that led to Kumashiro’s winning poster was “Report. Edit. Repeat.”

Kumashiro won $150 from the Star-Advertiser for her effort.

AND THE WINNERS ARE…