More than 300 high school students and faculty from 29 schools across Long Island and Queens gathered for Press Day at Adelphi University on Wednesday, Feb. 6. The event provided students with the opportunity to learn from seasoned newspaper and magazine editors, online and newspaper reporters, and freelance writers about the world of media.
The event included breakout sessions and a panel featuring Keshia Clukey, education reporter for Newsday; Salvatore Fallica, Adelphi professor of communications; Mark Grabowski, Adelphi associate professor of communications; Rachel Schrelbstein, editor, Jericho High School; Suzanne Valenza, faculty advisor, Jericho High School; and Paul Thaler, Adelphi professor of communications, Press Day Chair and panel moderator. The subject matter of the discussions was “The Student Journalist: Present and Future Challenges.”
A highlight of the event was the presentation of the Quill Awards, featuring 15 categories, including Best Photograph, Most Outstanding Newspaper, Best Illustration and more.
Award winners were:
BEST FREELANCE WORK
3rd: Antoinette Bastone, Hauppauge High School, “online anniex”
2nd: Lindsay Landsberg, Jericho High School, “Paperless Progression”
1st: Julia Cuttone, East Meadow High School, “Holocaust Survivor Warns Student of Bystander Effect”
BEST ONLINE WRITING
1st: Corianna Jackson, Brentwood High School, “Dichotomy”
BEST ONLINE NEWSPAPER
2nd: The Edison Light, Thomas A. Edison C.T.E. High School, www.theedisonlight.com
2nd: The JerEcho, Jericho High School, www.Jerecho.org
2nd: Horizon Online, Lynbrook High School, https.//lhshorizon.com/
2nd: Pow Wow News, Brentwood High School, bhspowwownews.bufsd.org
1st: The Wild Cat, The Wheatley School, wheatleywildcat.org
BEST ILLUSTRATION OR CARTOON
HM: Ryan O’Connor, Chaminade High School, “The Force of Connection or the Trigger of Disjunction?”
3rd: Ridannelyn Gallo, East Meadow High School, “Summer Slide”
2nd: Marissa Marino, Kings Park High School, “Mochie”
1st: Isabella Weber, Hicksville High School, “Enjoy Autumn”
BEST PHOTOGRAPH
HM: Steven Cassese, H. Frank Carey High School, “Football Players Running Through Poster”
3rd: Erik Davis, East Meadow High School, “Sunlight Globe”
2nd: Jess Nealon, Wantagh High School, “Three-year-old boy protests for immigration rights”
1st: Noah Ahmed, Sewanhaka High School, “Never Again”
BEST LAYOUT
HM: Maya Tadross, Sean Ronan, Kellenberg Memorial High School
HM: Isabella Cain, Kings Park High School
3rd: Michael Riggi, Laura Francavilla, Massapequa High School
2nd: Mia Flores, Samantha Ganzekaufer, Plainedge High School
2nd: Jessica Mathis, The Mount Academy
1st: William Birkdale, Chaminade High School
BEST PAGE ONE LAYOUT
3rd: Ariba Hameed, Natalie Garcon, Fatima Tariq, Sewanhaka High School
2nd: Eitan Gutenmacher, Yaakov Fuchs, Eitan Kastner, DRS Yeshiva High School for Boys
1st: Jaylyn Umana, Long Beach High School
BEST SPORTS STORY OR COLUMN
HM: Aaryan Chandra, Hauppauge High School, “Serena Williams- ‘Queen’ or Diva?”
HM: Jillian Laino, Wantagh High School, “Girls’ Volleyball Digs Out County Title, L.I. Title; Then Makes States”
3rd: Sophia Seda, Brentwood High School, “Brentwood Fall Sports Make Huge Progress!”
2nd: Matthew Gluck, Kellenberg Memorial High School, “Firebirds Dominate SFP at Homecoming”
1st: Robby Weingarten, Roslyn High School, “Boys’ Track and Field Captures County Championship”
BEST ARTS REVIEW
HM: NooR Fatima, Brentwood High School, “How ‘The Hate U Give’ Defines a Politically Woke Generation”
HM: Uma Arengo, Long Beach High School, “Bank on Banksy”
3rd: Sabeen Siddiqui, East Meadow High School, “Visual Music”
3rd: Lillian Aljada, Hicksville High School, “A Matter of Identity in Film”
2nd: Eitan Gutenmacher, DRS Yeshiva High School for Boys, “First Man”
2nd: Jacob Ribotsky, The Wheatley School, “A Brief History of Colonization: A Heart-Wrenching Story Made Fun”
1st: Drew Milano, Kings Park High School, “Every Night is Fortnite!”
BEST OPINION PIECE
HM: Chloe Van Steertegem, George W. Hewlett High School, “Meat Industry: Mindless and Misguided”
HM: Aisha Abdelhamid, Sam Valentin, New Hyde Park Memorial High School, “Children of the White House”
HM: Elizabeth Sardes, H. Frank Carey High School, “KAVA-NOPE!”
3rd: Rawan Mohamed, Hicksville High School, “Behind Closed Doors—The Girls Locker Room”
3rd: Kiera Hughes, Hampton Bays High School, “Stop Blaming Us”
2nd: Justine Maendel, Daniela Barth, The Mount Academy, “Post Truth: Walking off the Edge”
2nd: Kenton Wu, The Wheatley School, “Contingency Plans for December 15th”
1st: Elizabeth Ratkiewicz, Lynbrook High School, “An Obvious Choice: Gun Control or Our Lives”
BEST EDITORIAL
3rd: Hewlett High School Editorial Board, George W. Hewlett High School, “Hewlett Strengthens School Security”
2nd: Preston Button, The Mount Academy, “Democracy, Freedom and Hate Speech”
1st: Anya Murphy, Kellenberg Memorial High School, “It Takes A [Snowflake] Village”
BEST FEATURE ARTICLE
HM: NooR Fatima, Brentwood High School, “Susan Lewis: The One who Stayed”
HM: Kelsey Cartelli, H. Frank Carey High School, “Spring Break in Central Europe”
3rd: Schuyler Dorchak, Hampton Bays High School, “Sorry, I’m in a Dead Zone”
3rd: Owen Kells, Hauppauge High School, “Where Does YOUR Country Stand on Global Warming?”
2nd: Zeke Maendel, The Mount Academy, “My Summer at Sea”
1st: Maya Tadross, Kellenberg Memorial High School, “We Need to Talk: Dialoguing about Mental Health”
BEST NEWS ARTICLE
HM: Joanne Gotanco, St. Francis Preparatory School, “Model UN”
3rd: Julia Heming, Hampton Bays High School, “Mercy High School to Close its Doors”
3rd: Samantha Ganzekaufer, Plainedge High School, “Plainedge High School Hosts Congressional Debate”
2nd: Sam Cohen, Lynbrook High School, “Too Much! Too Little! Just Right: The Story of LHS’s Regents Weighting Policy”
2nd: Laura Francavilla, Peter Toutoulis, Massapequa High School, “Signs, silence and suspension: the MHS walk-out situation”
1st: Anthony Barisano, Gemma Schneider, Jayna Kurlender, Dana Guggenheim, Roslyn High School, “There Was Never a ‘Bad Education’ At Roslyn”
MOST OUTSTANDING REPORTER
HM: Dylynn Von Bartheld, Hampton Bays High School
3rd: Michael Riggi, Massapequa High School
2nd: Jane Hoeflinger, Lynbrook High School
1st: Samantha Ganzekaufer, Plainedge High School
MOST OUTSTANDING NEWSPAPER
HM: Paramount, The Mount Academy
3rd: The Chief, Massapequa High School
3rd: Tarmac, Chaminade High School
2nd: The Hilltop Beacon, Roslyn High School
2nd: Hewlett Spectrum, George W. Hewlett High School
1st: Horizon, Lynbrook High School
