JACQUELINE BARBA
JACQUELINE BARBA
State Competitor and Award-Winning Writer
2021 IHSA STATE JOURNALISM COMPETITON
2nd Place in Features Writing
In 2021, I competed at the IHSA State Journalism Competition in Features Writing. Competing in this event enabled me to hone my writing skills, finding not only the news in a piece but the human interest as well. Adding color through engaging leads and varied word choices helped me to take my writing skills to the next level. Overall, I took home 2nd place at both my sectional and at state.
Breakfast break on state competition day!
A sweatshirt to commemorate the moment.
The team before leaving for the competition!
Breakfast break on state competition day!
2019 IHSA STATE COMPETITION
Along with my partner, Annie Le, I competed in the IHSA Journalism State Competition in the Theme category in 2019. Within three hours, Annie and I created, designed, and gave a detailed description of the front, back, and introduction of a yearbook based on a short prompt. Brainstorming together, pouring over every detail, and getting to be creative made the entire process more like fun than competition. In the future, I hope to bring the design skills that I learned in the Theme category to improve the overall aesthetics of our paper.
OUTSTANDING SENIOR IN ENGLISH
As a graduating senior, I was awarded the Outstanding Senior in English award by my school's English department. Each year, the department elects one senior that they feel has stood out in their department's subject. My teachers said I showed a passion for literature, discussion, and analysis of the texts we read in class. As a student with a special affinity for everything taught in my English classes, I am honored that my teachers chose to give me this recognition. I could not have done it without their guidance, support, teachings, and encouragement.
SNO DISTINGUISHED SITE
As an Editor-in-Chief for the Blueprint, I aided the Blueprint in winning a Distinguished Site recognition from Sno. This required diversifying our content, revamping our website, and promoting journalistic excellence in our writing, reporting, and coverage.
ASPA CONVENTION SPEAKER
In 2021, I was invited along with my co-Editors-in-Chief to present at the Alabama Scholastic Press Association State High School Journalism Convention. We curated and presented a in-depth presentation to other journalism students on how to effectively lead a high school newspaper staff, improve their publication, and bring innovation to high school journalism.
