Stony Point High School journalists earned several state championship titles and program awards at the Interscholastic League Press Conference (ILPC), the journalism division of University Interscholastic League (UIL), in April.

Stony Point took 78 individual places including gold, silver, and bronze medals. Stony Point also boasted 24 state champions. The school’s three publications — Touchstone Yearbook, Prowler Newspaper Print and Prowler Newspaper Online — also earned the state’s highest rating, the award of distinguished merit and advanced to the UIL preeminent publication competition, The Star Awards.

The Touchstone Yearbook earned one bronze star and the Prowler Print Newspaper received one silver star. The recognitions are top awards for publications at the state level.

Rebecca Plumley, Stony Point UIL academic coordinator and competition sponsor, Touchstone Yearbook and Prowler Newspaper Adviser and journalism teacher, said these competitions serve as a touchstone for students to gauge their work.

“For my students, their validation comes from the competitions. There’s not a state mandated test for journalism, but I find that those of us involved in scholastic journalism organizations want feedback to help us grow, so competitions provide us a glimpse into our operations,” Plumley said. “Yearbook and newspaper ratings and star awards make my team take a holistic look at their publications. Students are able to see if they met their annual goals and find the areas where they should set new goals to increase achievement.”

Along with the state competition winners from the spring, the journalism teams saw success in their other national and state competitions including: The Texas Association of Journalism Educator’s Fall Fiesta, The Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s Gold Circle Awards, and The National Scholastic Press Association’s Pacemaker Awards and Cartoonist of the Year Competition.

Winners include:

UIL ILPC State Print Newspaper Competition:

  • Caleb Wiesenhutter, state champion, Sports News Story,
  • Carlo Moran, state champion, In Depth News/Feature Package
  • Emily Wolf, state champion, News Page Design, bronze medalist, In Depth News/Feature Story
  • Izabella Solis, state champion, Student Art, bronze medalist, Cartoon
  • Johnny Nguyen, state champion, Feature Page/Spread Design, state champion, News Feature Story, state champion, Infographic/Sidebar, silver medalist, In Depth News/Feature Package, bronze medalist, Opinion Writing Portfolio
  • Mikaela Alvarez, state champion, Computer Art
  • Parker Shepard, state champion, News Page Design, state champion, Entertainment Writing, state champion, Entertainment Page/Spread Design, silver medalist, In Depth News/Feature Package, silver medalist, Infographic/Sidebar
  • Rachel Boone, state champion, Opinion Writing Portfolio, silver medalist, Infographic/Sidebar, silver medalist, Double Truck Design
  • Syeda Gilani, state champion, Feature Page/Spread Design, state champion, In Depth News/Feature Package, state champion, News Writing, state champion, Sports Feature Story, Caleb Wiesenhutter, silver medalist, Sports Page/Spread Design, bronze medalist, Editorial Writing, bronze medalist, Photo Story
  • Christiana Peek, silver medalist, Sports Feature Photo
  • Jenna Ruiz, silver medalist, Entertainment Feature
  • Madison Buddin, bronze medalist, General News Photo

UIL ILPC State Newspaper Competition Tops in Texas:

  • Syeda Gilani, overall state champion in run-off competition.

UIL ILPC State Online Newspaper Competition:

  • Syeda Gilani, state champion, Sports Feature Story, state champion, Entertainment Feature, silver medalist, Personal Opinion Column, silver medalist, Photo Slideshow, bronze medalist, Infographic/Sidebar
  • Johnny Nguyen, silver medalist, Personal Opinion Column, bronze medalist, Feature Writing
  • Maribel Ojeda, silver medalist, Personal Opinion Column,
  • Rachel Boone, silver medalist, Infographic/Sidebar,
  • Tyler Chasteen, silver medalist, News Writing,
  • Caleb Wiesenhutter, bronze medalist, Sports Feature Story,
  • Izabella Solis, bronze medalist, Editorial Writing, bronze medalist, Photo Slideshow,
  • Joanna Zumkeller, bronze medalist, Multimedia Package,
  • Lindsey Parker, bronze medalist, Personal Column,
  • Nayma Villalpando, bronze medalist, News Feature,
  • Parker Shepard, bronze medalist, Multimedia Package and

UIL ILPC State Print Newspaper Competition Star Award and the National Scholastic Press Association Newspaper Pacemaker Finalist and Pacemaker Award: Recipients of the Star Awards represent the top 10 percent of student newspapers and yearbooks in Texas, and the National Pacemaker Awards, unofficially known as the “Pulitzer Prizes of student journalism,” are generally considered to be the highest national honor for excellence in American student journalism.The following students were members of the print newspaper team that earned a silver star award and a pacemaker award:

  • Alyssa Ochoa,
  • Katherine Weems,
  • Emily Wolf,
  • Izabella Solis,
  • Jenna Ruiz,
  • Johnny Nguyen,
  • Lexus Palacios,
  • Lindsey Parker,
  • Maribel Ojeda,
  • Mayzha Wilson,
  • Mikaela Alvarez,
  • Nayma Villalpando,
  • Parker Shepard,
  • Rachel Boone,
  • Syeda Gilani and
  • Tyler Chasteen.

UIL ILPC State Yearbook Competition:

  • Caleigh Denmark, state champion, Portrait,
  • Christiana Peek, state champion, Club Feature Story,
  • Hannah Mohr, state champion, Academic Feature Story,
  • Kaylie Yingling, state champion, Student Life Feature Story, bronze medalist, Academic Spread and bronze medalist, Sports Spread
  • Maino Johnston, state champion, Secondary Coverage/Alternative Copy Treatment,
  • Joanna Zumkeller, silver medalist, Photo Portfolio,
  • Kimberly Cronan, silver medalist, Sports Feature Story,
  • Emily Wolf, bronze medalist, Academic Spread

UIL ILPC State Yearbook Competition Star Awards: Recipients of the Star Awards represent the top 10 percent of student newspapers and yearbooks in Texas. The following students were members of the yearbook team that earned a silver star award:

  • Caleigh Denmark,
  • Christiana Peek,
  • Devon Barb,
  • Gerardo Quevedo,
  • Hannah Mohr,
  • Joanna Zumkeller,
  • Kaylie Yingling,
  • Kimberly Cronan,
  • Madeline Cuellar,
  • Madison Guyton,
  • Maino Johnston and
  • Taliana Castillo

Texas Association of Journalism Educators Fall Fiesta, State Fall Competition
Winners represent the top 10 percent in the state competition

  • Maino Johnston, superior, Yearbook Photography,
  • Gerardo Quevedo, excellence, Yearbook Photography,
  • Syeda Gilani, excellence, On-Site Photography,
  • Alyssa Ochoa, honorable mention, On-Site Photography,
  • Johnny Nguyen, honorable mention, On-Site Photography,
  • Kat Culp, honorable mention, Photo Portfolio,
  • Madison Buddin, honorable mention, First Year Photo,
  • Oriana Rincon, honorable mention, Portrait and
  • Rachel Boone, honorable mention, On-Site Photography-Green
    Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Circle Awards National Competition
  • Parker Shepard, third place, N14 cultural feature,
  • Caleigh Denmark, (5th) certificate of merit, 78 yearbook, academic photo and
  • Emily Wolf, (6th) certificate of merit, DM15 personality profile
    National Scholastic Press Association Political Cartoonist of the Year Competition:
  • Izabella Solis, 7th place