Gibraltar High School’s Viking Voice publication received a second place general excellence award in the Wisconsin Newspaper Association Foundation’s High School Better Newspaper Contest. This is an improvement from last year when they received third place. Each year the Voice enters two issues and several individual articles for the foundation.  The group also earned a $1,000 scholarship for their newspaper fund. There are several ideas being tossed around about where to spend it, several dealing with technology advancements. The paper will also have to decide if they will continue to publish a digital copy moving forward. 

The Voice’s Advisor, Patrick Knapp, credits the students for the outreach the paper has achieved. He knows it takes going above and beyond, as it’s an extracurricular activity for the paper staff as opposed to a class. The paper was presented with obstacles brought on by the pandemic, as they no longer grouped up in person to bounce ideas off of one another and assign others to different features. Editor-in-Chief Lily Sweeney was able to take charge in getting a virtual meeting plan going so the paper didn’t miss a beat. Knapp notes it didn’t take long for the process to properly flow.

Knapp is impressed at the paper’s continuous improvement, the student’s creativity, its engagement with local and national topics, and the students’ personality shining through in writing. 

The following individual’s won WNA Foundation awards:

Theo Goode: Second place, feature story - Pros and Cons of Virtual Learning

Betsy Lecy: Third place, Public Affairs Reporting - Dollar General Proposes to Locate on Egg Harbor Land

Lily Sweeney: Honorable mention, Public Affairs Reporting - Door County Public Health Officials Beg Residents to Stay Home

Makena Murre: Honorable Mention, Feature Story - Performing Without an Audience