8 Teens, Newspaper Win Journalism Awards

A powerful opinion piece about a slain student and a hard news story on school bomb threats were two of the winners announced Friday at a high school journalism awards ceremony at The Times’ editorial office in Ventura.

Eight students from high schools throughout the county and one campus newspaper were recipients of the second annual Los Angeles Times Ventura County Edition High School Journalism Awards.

The edition’s education writer, Anna Gorman, spoke about the importance of journalism, telling students and their families that it can effect change as it allows journalists to learn and grow as people.

Edition editor Bill Overend then awarded a $1,000 check to representatives of The Lancer, the Thousand Oaks High School student newspaper, which was honored for overall excellence among student papers in the county.

Nordhoff High School student Sarah Hernandez won for her personal reflection on the slaying of 14-year-old Kali Manley, a piece in which she urged classmates to live life to the fullest but also to learn from it and “wake up.”

“As teens, life can be so complicated,” Hernandez said after receiving her award. “We needed to understand that this happened in Ojai, and it can happen anywhere.”

Evann Gastaldo won for writing about campus bombs, and Ashley Decker won for a story about a female student who competes on wrestling and football teams. Both attend Camarillo High School.

Roberto Serrato was honored for profiling a student who works in the fishing industry, and Jose Sanchez won for his high-angle photo of a school’s popular park benches. Both attend Channel Islands High School.

Thousand Oaks High School students Travis Tom, Abdul Wahkil and David Choi also won--Tom and Wahkil for a review of the movie “Rush Hour” and Choi for drawings that dealt with campus potholes and backpack theft.

The students received $250 as part of their award. More than 100 entries were received.