Journalists on the U-High Midway and U-Highlights staffs received numerous national awards at the JEA/NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention in Chicago on Nov. 1-4.

The National Scholastic Press Association awarded Natalie Glick, a 2018 graduate, first place award in Editorial Story for “Conservatives deserve a safe space, too,” written in October 2017.

The Midway was awarded second place for Newspaper Tabloid of 16 Pages or Fewer in the Best of Show contest for those publications represented at the convention. U-Highlights placed fifth in Best of Show for Yearbooks 233-288 Pages.

The Journalism Education Association hosted on-site Write-off competitions, in which all nine U-High students who participated earned awards. Students wrote their stories by hand and had limited time to finish. The students and their award ratings are Grace Watson, superior, yearbook copy/captions for academics; Grace Zhang, superior, news writing; Otto Brown, excellent, press law and ethics; Mira Costello, excellent, yearbook copy/captions for clubs; Claire Duncan, excellent, yearbook copy/captions for sports; Priyanka Shrijay, excellent, sports writing; Jacob Posner, honorable mention, feature writing; Yael Rolnik, honorable mention, yearbook copy/captions for student life; and Emma Trone, honorable mention, editorial writing.

In March 2019, the Midway will receive the Crown Award — either gold or silver — from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. Three Midway journalists earned Gold Circle Certificate of Merit Awards for individual work: Amber Huo, a 2018 graduate, for a portfolio of her art and illustrations; Priyanka Shrijay for design of an op-ed or news analysis page, “Defying Social Norms”; and Emma Trone for her single-page feature package, “Gold and Glory at the Games.”