Eight students from last year’s yearbook staff, were honored with 11 awards in the 2013 Yearbook Excellence Contest sponsored by Quill and Scroll International Honorary Society for High School Journalists and Josten’s Yearbook Publishing Company. 257 national winners were selected from over 1,800 entries. The yearbook staff was also named a 2013 All Kansas Publication.

Two students, senior Jennifer Faucett, who won in the Clubs and Organizations category, and graduate Katie Knutson, who won in the Student Life Photography category, were declared as Sweepstakes Winners, which are the best of all entries, nationally, in their respective categories.

Junior Nina Bort and senior Jackie Roth were both named contributors to a Sweepstake Winner in the Clubs and Organizations category. 2013 graduates Jordan Reinhart and Caroline Kallmeyer were declared as contributors to a Sweepstakes Winner in the Clubs and Organizations photo category.

Junior Rebecca Jenkins and seniors Roth and Erin Dimon, were declared National winners in the Personality Profiles category. Faucett was named a National winner in the Clubs and Organizations category and Kallmeyer was declared a winner in the Clubs and Organizations Photo category.

“I was pretty surprised to win, I wasn’t expecting it,” yearbook editor-in-chief Jennifer Faucett said. “[Dimon] and I had submitted different pages from last year’s yearbook hoping that we would win, but we weren’t 100 percent sure. It was really cool and felt rewarding to win.”

Faucett claimed the yearbook staff is taking what they learned from last year and is trying to make the yearbook even better this year. She said they are striving to publish an excellent book.

“It’s really cool to win these awards,” Faucett said.  “Winning the All Kansas Publication Award is something we have gotten on staff before. It’s cool to just keep that tradition going and just to think that we’re not just an average yearbook, but that we are really talented.”

All eight students received Gold Keys from Quill and Scroll for their winning entries and are eligible to apply for journalism scholarships from Quill and Scroll based on their wins.