Student journalists from The Mirror newspaper and website garnered multiple accolades at the prestigious 66th Annual L.A. Press Club Southern California Journalism Awards. The ceremony, recognizing excellence in journalism across various categories, took place at the historic Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday, June 23, 2024.
The Mirror’s website, vnhsmirror.com, secured first place in the Best High School News Website category. The team behind this achievement includes Editor-in-Chief Daimler Koch, Executive Editor Angelina Gevorgyan, and Associate Editors Maya Diaz and Haik Ushaglyan. Judges praised the site, stating, “For a high school newspaper website, I’d put this up against any professional newspaper site in the country. It’s clean. It provides news from all spectrums of the high school.” This is the third year in a row the website has been awarded first in this category.
In the Best High School Newspaper category, The Mirror claimed the top spot for the Fall 2023 issue. Gevorgyan led this effort, with judges commending the publication for its “awesome paper with good use of art, illustrations and fonts.”
The Mirror team also competed against professional news organizations in the Website, Traditional News Organization category, securing third place behind The Hollywood Reporter and Variety.
Individual students also received recognition for their work:
- Arts & Entertainment Editor Madison Thacker secured second place in Best Feature Writing, Off Campus Issues for her story “Lights, camera, hope: Kids in the Spotlight inspires foster youth to tell their stories.”
- Staff writer Skylie Molina took second place in Best Feature Writing, Campus Issues with her article “Checkmate: Mastering a sport that’s all in the mind.”
- Staff writer Adrianna Bean earned third place in the Best Arts Writing category for her piece “It’s been a long time coming: The Eras Tour film is finally here.”
The annual L.A. Press Club Southern California Journalism Awards celebrate outstanding achievements in journalism across high school, college, and professional levels.