Senior is named 'Super Journalist' by Utah Press

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Press Association (UPA) has named Judge Memorial Catholic High School senior Katie Harrington as the 2008-2009 "Super Journalist" for the state of Utah. Harrington is editor-in-chief of the UPA Award-winning Judge Memorial Bulldog Press.

Additionally, Judge Memorial’s Bulldog Press earned first place from the UPA for newspapers in Classes 1A-3A. This honor brings with it a $500 award.

"Katie’s work was head and shoulders above even the bigger schools," said Dixie Brunner, editor of Southern Utah News in Kane County. She was incredible and smart in what she picked to write about. In one of her stories, a young person passed away, and she made a real conscious effort to make sure she was sensitive to the family as well as covering the story. That is what you seriously have to do, especially in small towns, and small schools. There is a balance, and she seems to understand that. She used her head and was smart.

"Katie’s writing was wonderful," said Brunner. "I would dream of her working for me. I was astounded at her writing. Plus she used really good sense but did not back off from the story. What really impressed me was she could have gone to town with this right off the bat, but she understood that the family would be reading the paper. In the story the staff wanted to use a bottle of Absolute Vodka, and she was in favor of that, but wanted to give the family some space. That impressed me.

"Chris Sloan, the Judge Memorial Catholic High School journalism advisor said that is the way she has always been," said Brunner. "She is super deserving of this award.

"The contest is so valuable because it does encourage student high school newspapers to start thinking if they are going to just talk about clubs or if they are going to put their mark up and talk about issues," said Brunner. "Judge Memorial is amazing to me because they understand this, and they are serious about issues. That is something I look for in this particular contest.

"Their paper was simply surprising. I read their paper and felt almost guilty about my paper," said Brunner. "And I am pretty proud of my paper. The Bulldog Press is an excellent paper and the kids have really raised the mark. They are thinking about what they are writing about in life in the bigger world. It is definitely commendable."

"Katie was sited by the UPA because of her story content first of all," said Sloan. "She wrote a story about a teenager who killed someone because he was a distracted driver. She interviewed him and talked about it as well as about a former student who died from hazing at Utah State. She also did a story about hazing in general to raise students’ awareness. She was also in Grant Park in Chicago when Barack Obama was elected, and wrote a story about his acceptance speech.

"So her port folio is really impressive as far as the kind of stuff she writes," said Sloan. "But she was also sited for her editorial leadership because some of her stories were pretty sensitive. She does not shy away from controversial topics, and she handles them really maturely.

"She has put in tons of time," said Sloan. "When we were out for Swine Flu, she called wondering if there was any way she could get in the school because she had so much work to do. There was not, but there just are not that many teenagers who would want to come to school on a spring day when they had vacation they did not know about. She is dedicated and puts in a lot of time because she cares about what she does.

"The Bulldog Press is put together really well by Katie and her team and by a really incredible graphic artist named Alli Berry. Berry is off the charts. Visually the newspaper is stunning," said Sloan. "It has good and interesting writing, too. Jacob Garcia takes really nice photos as well. They all do a really nice job putting things together so that it looks good, and they put a lot of time into the words so they are intellectually engaging."

"Mr. Sloan had Dixie Brunner tell me I had won the Super Journalism Award," said Harrington. "When she told me she said I had basically blown everyone out of the water, and that was cool to hear. Then she was going on about how impressed she was about our newspaper as a whole. That is awesome.

"I am editor-in-chief this year, and I was an editor last year. My sophomore year, I wrote some stories, but I mostly did layouts. Last year one of my best friends, Lieren Stuivenvolt, was editor-in-chief and she really helped me, and improved my writing a lot. Lieren wrote some awesome serious stories last year, which made me want to move away from high school news to bigger serious issues.

"I wrote about teenage driving," said Harrington. "It is the number one killer of teenagers. I read the statistics, and I was appalled. Then my mother got me in contact with a boy from East High School who killed a girl because he was driving while distracted. I thought I would tell his story because it needed to be told, and that was an eye-opening experience.

"When I met him, he was so shy, scared, and depressed," said Harrington. "I thought if I can help him get his message out there to wake up behind the wheel, then I am doing my job. He said basically your life can change in one minute.

"I also wrote about the rising trend of hazing on college campuses," said Harrington. "I did not know anything about it. A former Judge student, Michael Starks, died from hazing. He was best friends with some of my close friends. So I thought that my way to help them and the family would be to make people more aware of hazing. I think it helped because people seemed to take the issue more seriously. The Starks brothers came and talked to us. I thought it was cool listening to them and being informed by them. The family thanked me. I wanted to do my part.

"I think about how my parents and teachers have had an influence on me, and how I and my friends have an influence on each other, and I thought how can I be influential," said Harrington. "Seeing Lieren do her stories made me realize I can help make people more aware about issues that are near and dear to my heart. If I can help change someone then I am doing good, and journalism is a way for me to do that. Journalism has given me more confidence in my writing and knowing I can accomplish things. My outgoing nature has helped me."