Wantagh Student Wins Journalism Award

From Wantagh School District: Wantagh High School student-journalist Grace Anne McKenna, co-editor-in-chief of the school’s Wantagh Warrior, garnered a coveted honorable mention award for best news article during Adelphi University’s Press Day journalism contest, held on Feb. 28. Grace Anne joins a host of Wantagh student-journalists for the 14th consecutive year, who have received this honor, adviser Peter Kravitz said.

Grace Anne’s article, “A Transition of Power Creates Sense of Wantagh Pride,” dated April 28, 2017, highlighted the retirement of former superintendent of schools Maureen Goldberg and her replacement and current superintendent John McNamara.

During the Press Day event, students attended lectures by renowned writers about how to combat fake news and other problems facing contemporary journalists. Students from 28 Nassau and Suffolk counties, as well as New York City, attended the event.

Kravitz said the strength of the Wantagh Warrior is due, in part, to the excellent leadership of Grace Anne and co-editor-in-chief Grace Tague, both of whom have been winning journalism awards for the past four years. In addition to this year’s Adelphi University Press Day Quill Award, Grace Anne has also acquired an honorable mention for her sports column from Syracuse University’s Empire State School Press Association journalism contest. During the past four years, Grace Tague has acquired bronze awards in both the columnist and news story categories during the ESSPA awards, as well as a gold award in opinion writing and a bronze award in feature writing at Press Day.

Both students believe that the success of the Wantagh Warrior is due to the writing of articles that benefit the school and which interest the students.

“Both girls are terrific reporters and editors and have been such a pleasure to work with to put the paper together,” Kravitz said. “We congratulate Grace Anne on her newly acquired Press Day award.”

Photo courtesy of the Wantagh School District: Wantagh High School journalist Grace Anne McKenna (right) is the winner of an Adelphi University Press Day award and is pictured with fellow journalist, Grace Tague.