Once again this year, the InPrint and Fentonian staffs have received top-notch evaluations from the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) for their 2013-2014 publications.

Both staffs exceeded the minimum number of points required for the All-American Honor. This is the best evaluation that a staff can receive out of four different rankings from the NSPA.

The Fenton InPrint (newspaper) received 4,225 points out of a possible 5,000 in the areas of coverage/ content, writing/editing, photos/arts/graphics, layout/design and leadership.

Judges commented on connections the school newspaper made between the student community and global issues. Such stories include ones about the changing face of downtown Fenton, risque television shows and college.

“I am very pleased with our results as a staff,” 2014 co-editor in chief Torrey Christopher said. “We made the best of our technology situation and we were able to be successful despite working on old computers and outdated software, which I think is outstanding.”

Students not part of the journalism staff are routinely interviewed and their opinions on issues appear in the paper. Judges acknowledged how the wide variety of stories that appeared in the paper appealed to a great number of students with varying personalities. Many articles focused on a particular student’s talent or passion.

“There is always some room for improvement, but I’m proud of what we achieved as a staff,” junior Alexis Megandoff said. “Last year went so smoothly because we had a system that was well run and familiar. We knew where we would have trouble and we were able to compensate for these rough areas. As a whole, we had strong leaders who knew what they wanted and were experienced enough to execute it well.”

The staff was also praised for how it included the “On My Mind” column, which is similar to a man on the street interview. Students from outside the journalism crew have the ability to express their opinions in the newspaper via this column. Credit was also given to editorials from newspaper staff members, which were deemed entertaining and informative. They thoroughly established arguments from both perspectives while maintaining a strong stance on the issue.

Despite the technology difficulties last school year, the judge said he found the Fenton InPrint a pleasure to read, and praised the staff’s efficiency in delivering news to FHS students.

The Fentionian earned 4,275 points out of 5,000, meaning it also received the All-American honor award. The yearbook itself was judged in five different categories: photography, writing/editing, design, concept and coverage. For each category, it scored between “very good” and “excellent,” excellent being the highest possible score a publication can receive.

In addition to the All-American rating, the book also received five out of five Marks of Distinction, which are awarded when a book exceeds the expectations in any one of the categories.

“This award means so much,” 2014 co-editor in chief Josie Foguth said. “The staff as a whole put a lot of time into it starting the summer before school and ending halfway through the next summer. I also think it meant a lot for the seniors. I don’t think there was much we could have done better because everyone did their part and worked together.”

The judge said the yearbook demonstrated outstanding photography and the elaborate design attracted readers to the pages. He found it to be an enjoyable read. The judge also commented on the distinctive action photos which are abundant in the book. He also gave credit to the captions which helped the photos come to life, forever capturing the memories from the 2013-2014 school year.

“I’m proud of everything we did,” 2015 co-editor in chief senior Sarah Lawrence said. “We worked hard and it was an honor because we didn’t receive a national award for the 2013 book, and we wanted to make it the best. In the evaluation we received back, the judge picked apart how in our alternate coverage ideas we were missing some quotes, so we’re going to try to fix that this year so we can succeed again next year. We’re also trying to work with design elements we’ve never used before to help reinforce our theme ‘Same story different angle’ as well as paying close attention to the critique we received from the judge.”