Clarke Central Publications Shine at Regional Press Association Meeting

By David Ragsdale

Forty members of Clarke Central High School's Odyssey Newsmagazine, Odyssey Online and Iliad Literary-Art Magazine participated in the University of South Carolina's Southern Interscholastic Press Association's The Limit Does Not Exist convention in Columbia, S.C. from March 1-3, along with 400 other students from across the Southeast.

Senior Chloe Hargrave, Editor-in-Chief of the Odyssey, served as the convention’s student president and opened the ceremony Friday night.

“At the beginning of the ceremony, I welcomed all students and teachers to the conference as president. Throughout the conference, I handled any presidential duty asked of me, all the while handling my duties as Editor-in-Chief, as well,” Hargrave said.

Seniors Hannah Dunn-Grandpre and Chloe Alexander, of the Iliad, presented the session, “Reinventing your literary magazine” with adviser David Ragsdale on Saturday morning.  The session was an interactive discussion of strategies to create publications worthy not only of commendations, but ones that truly reflect the artists within their pages.

Dunn-Grandpre and Ragsdale with junior Austin Defoor, also presented “Online Editing and Publishing,” a session offering insight into the publication and packaging of breaking stories and means to attract readers to online student media.

“I was excited that I got to present on such a variety of different topics and help so many different people who were in attendance at SIPA,” Dunn-Grandpre said. “In the literary magazine session, we had a lot of discussion with the other schools and we got to see some interesting insight into how they run their programs.”

Junior Jenny Alpaugh, Dunn-Grandpre and Hargrave, the Odyssey’s senior leadership team, presented the session “Staff Bonding” with Ragsdale facilitating Saturday afternoon.  The collaborative session allowed the presenters to brainstorm new ways to build and maintain espirit de corps in the fast-paced journalism classroom environment.

“When working in the stressful environment that high school journalism can be, it’s incredibly important to maintain staff morale,” Alpaugh said. “With the session we presented, we hoped to share our staff bonding ideas, like playing tape ball, taking staff trips to go skating, having article read-arounds together, with our audience.”

CCHS’ two Quiz Bowl teams competed in the Preliminary Round of competition and both qualified for the Semi-Final round of eight teams. Hargrave, who teamed with senior Dory MacMillan, Defoor and sophomore Chad Rhym, captained the Gold Squad. The Red Squad was comprised of sophomore Aaron Holmes, Alpaugh, Alexander and Dunn-Grandpre.  The Red Squad defeated the Gold Squad in head-to-head competition at the semi-finals to advance to the Final Round on Sunday, where they fell to George Steinbrenner High School of Lutz, Fla.

“We were glad to have made it to the semi-final round,” Holmes said. “Although weren’t able to beat Steinbrenner, I feel like everyone on the team made an effort, and we really enjoyed competing. I look forward to seeing how well the Central team will do next year.”

The 2012-13 Iliad was recognized as All-Southern and was declared the Scroggins Award winner, SIPA's highest honor.  In addition to providing a forum for CCHS artists, photographers and writers, the Iliad featured works from students from both Burney-Harris-Lyons and Clarke Middle School.  Dunn-Grandpre is this year’s EIC, with SIPA attendees Suzanne Jurado serving as an assistant editor and Addie Downs, Anna Grossman, Lela Jenkins, William Kissane and Emily Watson as staff members.  Managing Editor Carver Goodhue was not in attendance.

“In the past, members of the Iliad staff haven’t attended the SIPA convention. However, this year we were fortunate to have almost the entire staff with us on the trip,” Dunn-Grandpre. “As we move into the more strenuous part of the production process, I’m sure everything we learned at the convention will become more important and useful.”

The Odyssey’s website, Odyssey Online, received an All-Southern rating.  The site is managed and edited by Dunn-Grandpre and Defoor with Fear Churchwell, Susanna Conine-Nakano, Makayla Richards and Sam Thompson as contributing writers.

“It was a great learning environment because being around so many people, including your own staff members, allows you to bond and learn together,” Richards, a freshman videographer, said.

The 2012-13 Odyssey Newsmagazine was recognized as All-Southern and was declared Best Newspaper in Georgia for 2012 by SIPA. This is the eighth consecutive year the Odyssey has garnered both titles. 

Staff members in attendance were Alexander, Alpaugh, Rad Brosius, Brittney Butler, Ethan Crane, Gabe Evans, Hargrave, Gabriel Harper, Hanna Harper, Geneva Hinkle, Holmes, Sarah Hoyt, John Hubbard, Haley Hunt, Whitney Letman, James Lumpkin, MacMillan, Porter McLeod, Kevin Mobley, Tiernan O’Neill, Mary Louise Platter, Loran Posey, Rhym, Gabrielle Saupe, Henry Scott, Alicia Thomas, Maria Velasquez, Robert Walker and  Isabella Zaccaria-Jeffers.

“I was proud for our staff because it shows our hard work pays off,” Thomas, a sophomore on the Variety staff, said.

Staff Awards

Iliad - Scroggins Award - Best Literary Magazine In SIPA

Odyssey - Best Newspaper in Georgia

Evaluation Ratings:

Odyssey online - All-Southern

Odyssey Newsmagazine - All-Southern

Iliad - All-Southern

2013 Mail-In Contest Winners

Literary Magazine

·     Poetry

-   First Place: India Zerelda Hawkins, Clarke Central HS

-   Second Place: Dory MacMillan, Clarke Central HS

·     Prose Fiction and Narrative

-   First Place: Kayli Read, Clarke Central HS

-      Third Place: Margo Rothstein, Clarke Central HS

·     Prose Non-Fiction

-      First Place: Alexa Friedman, Clarke Central HS

Newspaper

Editorial Column

-   First Place: Hannah Greenberg, Clarke Central HS

-      Second Place: Aaron Holmes, Clarke Central HS

Entertainment/Feature Column

-   Second Place: Emma Kissane, Clarke Central HS

Feature Story

-      First Place: Dory MacMillan, Clarke Central HS

 Personality Feature

-   First Place: Alexa Friedman, Clarke Central HS

 Review

-      First Place: James Lumpkin, Clarke Central HS

Sports Column

-      Second Place: Loran Posey, Clarke Central HS

Sports Feature

-      Second Place: Blaine Wooten, Clarke Central HS

2013 Carry-In Contest Winners

Editorial Cartoon

Best of Show: William Kissane, ODYSSEY Newsmagazine, Clarke Central HS

Best Spread

Honorable Mention: Carlo Nasisse, Iliad, Clarke Central HS

Best Spread

Award of Merit: Carlo Nasisse, Iliad, Clarke Central HS

Best Spread

Best of Show: Carlo Nasisse, Iliad, Clarke Central HS

Literary Magazine Cover

Best of Show: Porter McLeod, Iliad, Clarke Central HS

Newspaper Sports Page

Award of Merit: Jenny Alpaugh, Odyssey, Clarke Central HS

Academic Photo

Best of Show: Porter McLeod, Iliad, Clarke Central HS

News Photo

Honorable Mention: Porter McLeod, Odyssey, Clarke Central HS

News Photo

Award of Merit: Porter McLeod, Odyssey, Clarke Central HS

Environmental Portrait Photo

Honorable Mention: Porter McLeod, Iliad, Clarke Central HS

Environmental Portrait Photo

Award of Merit: Porter McLeod, Iliad, Clarke Central HS

Environmental Portrait Photo

Best of Show: Porter McLeod, Iliad, Clarke Central HS

Sports Photo

Best of Show: Porter McLeod, Iliad, Clarke Central HS

Student Life Photo

Award of Merit: Porter McLeod, Iliad, Clarke Central HS