Young journalists scooped the competition for work on the 2008-09 edition of “Tiger,” the Dawson County High School yearbook.
Winners of the Georgia Scholastic Press Association contest were announced last week, as well as those who did well in a competition sponsored by Quill and Scroll — an international honor society for young writers, designers and photographers.
Yearbook staff accolades included an overall superior rating from GSPA, and Editor-in-Chief Logan Porter won Quill and Scroll awards for best academic photo and graphic design.
Having won the awards, Porter, 18, is considering a career in journalism.
“I’ve become more motivated now,” said Porter on Feb. 9. “I think I could actually do this for a living.”
Specifically, he’s interested in graphic design and publication layout. Porter can trace his interest in layout back to childhood fascinations.
“I’ve always liked puzzles,” he said. “When I was a little kid I would do any puzzle I could get my hands on, [designing pages] is kind of like that. You have all this stuff you have to get on the page. You have your headline, your copy, your captions ... all these little pieces of the puzzle.”
Fellow yearbook staffer Kirstie Broadwell, 17, said Porter is a good editor-in-chief and an important part of the publication’s success.
“He’s pretty laid back,” Broadwell said. “He lets the book be what the staff wants it to be, but with his own input in the equation too. Overall, he’s a very good editor.”
Broadwell is the yearbook’s photography editor. She said getting the superior designation was rewarding, but putting the publication together is a reward in itself.
“Getting to record what happens in our school at a particular year in time and getting to create a book that people will get to look back on generations from now ... that’s what’s great to me,” she said.
Broadwell said the superior ranking from the GSPA was a pleasant surprise.
“We weren’t expecting to do as well as we did,” she said. “Now, the challenge is to make this year’s book even better than it was last year.”