Six graduates of ThreeSixty Journalism – including four who now attend the University of St. Thomas – and one current high school student received 2014-15 College Better Newspaper Contest Awards for their work with ThreeSixty during the Minnesota Newspaper's Better Newspaper Contest Awards Banquet on Thursday, Jan. 28, in Bloomington.
The seven MNA awards match ThreeSixty’s total for the 2013-14 college contest and include two first-place prizes, four runner-up awards and one third-place finish.
- Madie Ley, a sophomore at St. Thomas, won first place in Arts and Entertainment Story with “Rocked and rolled: Intensity, identity keep Minnesota RollerGirls going strong.”
- Lujain Al-Khawi, a freshman at The George Washington University, took first place in Columnist with her essay, “Being Muslim doesn’t have to mean less authenticity as an American teen.”
- Danielle Wong, a senior at Eastview High School, finished runner up in Business Story with “Keystone Youth Services: A first job that’s more than taking orders.”
- Maya Shelton-Davies, a freshman at St. Thomas, took second place in Social Issues Story with “Al-Shabab’s actions hit home in Minnesota: Locals speak out against Somalia-based Islamist militant group’s attack in Kenya.”
- Kayla Song, a freshman at the University of Minnesota, also earned second-place honors in Arts and Entertainment Story for “Penumbra Theatre: Making an artistic statement with style.”
- Amira Warren-Yearby, a freshman at St. Thomas and the 2015 ThreeSixty Scholar, finished second in Columnist with “Crowning Achievement: Leading by example means embracing your true identity.”
- Simone Cazares, a freshman at the University of St. Thomas, finished third in Social Issues Story with “Young people take a stand with Black Lives Matter.
ThreeSixty Journalism is a nonprofit program of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of St. Thomas and offers various journalism camps and training to high school students.