Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: The Red 'n' Green Entry Title: Mental health affects student attendance Entry Credit: Autumn Nikolai Judge Comment: Important topic and one of the most in-depth entries. The survey also was an interesting addition. A more localized, less generic lead might have drawn more readers into the story. Also be careful not to use generalized claims - like at the beginning of the fifth paragraph and the ninth paragraph - unless you have data to back them up or can attribute the claim to an expert.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: The Red 'n' Green Entry Title: Social media advertising aims to target youth Entry Credit: Thomas McCarthy Judge Comment: Engaging lead and well researched. But avoid inserting opinions like "this makes sense" and "doesn’t help in the democratic process" unless they are in a quote. Getting the perspective of another student or two also could have improved this story.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: The Red 'n' Green Entry Title: Teachers come together to cover tech ed classes Entry Credit: Kayla Buhrow Judge Comment: This entry stood out because it's about a challenge specific to your school and had all local first-person sources. I would have liked to hear from some students in the classes. And be careful not to editorialize like you did at the end.
