By MAGGIE MEDVETZ – Many IHS students came out of the NIE contest with a little extra spending money in their pockets.  

From the High Arrow staff alone, four reporters placed in the writing portion of the contest.  These students were accompanied by a multitude of other students who participated in the writing contest as well as the photography contest.  

Senior and chief editor of the High Arrow Adriana Guth-Borowski, took home a cash prize of $50 for winning first place for her feature article on the best ways to settle differences with someone.  

“I was really happy to win the NIE contest.  It feels good to be recognized for my writing ability,” explained Guth-Borowski.  “I think that the personal nature of my writing helped the readers to connect with the piece.  The prompt was written in a way so that I was able to take a wide variety of angles, and I think that my angle allowed the judges to understand my writing and me as a writer.”

Other writers agreed that winning the contest was a great way to have their work recognized by a larger community and audience.

“It feels great to have my work recognized,” noted senior and assistant editor of the High Arrow, Justin Reese.  “It’s amazing to be able to write about something you’re passionate about and have the Indiana community  read and recognize it.”

Reese won third place with a column article about income inequality.

Article structure and use of complex sentences was not the only thing that helped these winners, and many others, place in the contest.  Passion for the subject also appeared to play a large role in each of the contestants’ works.  

Sophomore Kiley Branan, who won second place with a column reflecting her opinion on women’s equality in sports revealed, “Women’s equality in sports is a piece I feel very strongly about and I think that definitely helped me convey my points better.”

“I believe that the personal element of my article helped me win,” shared senior Kaylee Becker-George, who won second place for her column article about the death of autistic children at the hands of police.  “The topic I picked was very important to me, and as such, I felt required to do justice to the topic.”

Other winners from IHS include David Huang, Nathan Skalican, Angelo Lamantia, Hannah Reilly, Tanner Agnello, Sally Kingan and Zachary Herrington.

Thanks to these students’ hard work, IHS has seen another successful year filled with placings in the NIE writing and photography contest.  

[Photo by Maggie Medvetz]

Photo caption: “Journalism students, Kiley Branan, Adriana Guth-Borowski, Justin Reese, and Kaylee Becker-George, holding their winning NIE articles featured in the newspaper.”