Richwood High Students Win Top Honors at WVU Journalism Competition

Members of the Richwood High School Student Reporting Lab have won first and second  prizes in the WVU Reed College of Media high school journalism competition.

Richwood High School is one of the PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs, which are classrooms, after-school programs and clubs around the country producing original, inspiring reports about how national and global issues affect local communities.

Chuck Frostick, video production supervisor for West Virginia Public Broadcasting, serves as the class’s mentor from the video production world.  Frostick assisted the class by recording interviews in Charleston of students who were directly affected by the chemical spill in the Kanawha Valley.

The student advisor is Susan Johnson. Payton Kiszka, Trey Burwell, Dakota Lawson and Kendra Lipps received trophies for their student-produced stories. Not pictured are Chelsie Hagy, Emily Bennett and Tristan Legg.

The first place winner was a story about the one year anniversary of the chemical spill in Charleston.  It was filmed by Tristan Legg, Kendra Lipps, Emily Bennett, Chelsie Hagy and Dakota Lawson and written and edited by Kendra Lipps and Trey Burwell.

The second place story was about the revival of the music department at Richwood High School.  It was produced exclusively by junior Payton Kiszka. 

The chemical spill story was produced in conjunction with WVU Reed College of Media and the West Virginia Broadcasters Association.