About Us, Awards, Advertising and Applications
Nixa Journalism
EDITORIAL POLICY
Nixa Journalism operates as a designated open forum, with the intent of accurately and fairly reporting and responding to the needs of readers. Student editors make all content decisions. Staff members take responsibility for reporting honestly and without bias, for running the news magazine as a business and for printing material that is not legally considered obscene, libelous or private.
Content in Nixa Journalism publications does not necessarily represent the viewpoint of Nixa Public Schools administration. Nixa Journalism does not support any political campaign or candidate.
CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS POLICY
Requests for corrections or clarifications should be made to the editor-in-chief. Corrections and clarifications will appear at NixaJournalism.net and will be printed in the next Wingspan.
ADVERTISING POLICY
Advertisements that appear in Nixa Journalism publications do not necessarily represent the beliefs or viewpoints of the publication. Wingspan does not sell ads promoting drugs or alcohol. Ad prices begin at $35. Contact the advertising manager for details. Click here for more information about advertising.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR POLICY
Nixa Journalism encourages the submission of ideas, comments, questions or concerns from readers. Letters to the editor should be 500 words or less and should be signed and delivered to room 221. Nixa Journalism reserves the right to edit submissions for grammatical and spelling errors and for space limitations. Opinions expressed in letters to the editor reflect opinions of the writers, not that of the Nixa Journalism staff.
Click here to learn about advertising or sponsorships.
Click here to apply for Advanced Journalism. NOTE: Intro to Journalism is a prerequisite for Advanced Journalism classes.
Awards won during the 2021-22 school year
Quill and Scroll International Honor Society
Wingspan: International First Place
EagleAir: Second Place for News Show for Web or TV
Columbia Scholastic Press Association
Yearbook: Gold Medalist Award
Judge’s comments: “You and your dedicated staff did a professional job of responding to the previous judge’s suggestions and handling publication challenges, especially considering the uniqueness of the 2020-2021 year. Exemplary aspects of ‘Eagle’ included interviewing skills, photography techniques and layout design.”
Wingspan: Silver Medalist Award and Silver Crown Award winner
Journalism Day, Missouri Interscholastic Press Association/Missouri Journalism Education Association:
Judge’s comments about EagleAir:
Overall nicely done, good variety of packages, nice enthusiasm for school spirit.
Judge’s comments about Wingspan coverage:
“I’m going to make this short and sweet. Your coverage is simply amazing. When going through your publication, it just kept going and going and I was just amazing. Wonderful job. … What a beautiful, beautiful publication. From start to finish, the three editions you supplied for this contest really shocked me with how professional and engaging it was. Well done.”
| Publication Type | Category | Story Name | Award | Students |
| Broadcast | News Story | Masks and Vaccines | All Missouri | Lucas Finger |
| Broadcast | Overall–Newsmagazine | EagleAir TV | All Missouri | Staff |
| Newspaper/Newsmagazine | Overall | Wingspan | All Missouri | Wingspan Staff |
| Newspaper/Newsmagazine | News Feature | Understanding OCD | All Missouri | Gracie Schwarz |
| Newspaper/Newsmagazine | News Feature | Cliffhangers | All Missouri | Katelynn Gibson |
| Newspaper/Newsmagazine | News Writing | Help Wanted | All Missouri | Eli Dean |
| Newspaper/Newsmagazine | Sports Reporting | Skating Through the Season | All Missouri | Hailey Webster |
| Online | Breaking news | Mask Rules Remain Controversial | All Missouri | Eli Dean and Lucas Finger |
| Photography | Sports | Touchdown | All Missouri | Eli Dean |
| Yearbook | Yearbook Writing | Singin’ in the Rain | All Missouri | Justice Jones |
| Broadcast | Sports News Story | Olympic Athlete Returns Home | Best of Show | Ryne Swanson and Zeltzin Mondragon-Garcia, with Elle Justice |
| Broadcast | News Feature | Sources of Strength | Excellent | Abigail Coburn |
| Newspaper/Newsmagazine | News Writing | City Conflict Leads to Recall Vote | All Missouri | Brycen Osborne |
| Online | Overall | NixaJournalism.net | Excellent | Staff |
| Photography | Sports | Basketball Dribble | Excellent | Delanie Goss |
| Photography | Sports Feature/Reaction Photo | Beating Joplin | Excellent | Maleah Bays |
| Broadcast | Sports News Story | Girls Swim Begins | Honorable Mention | Delanie Goss and Mirielle Strobel |
| Broadcast | Sports News Story | Basketball Season | Honorable Mention | Phoebe Gardner and Lily Maggard |
| Newspaper/Newsmagazine | News Writing | Toxic Trends | Honorable Mention | Madison McCrea |
| Online | Feature package | Help from Man’s Best Friend | Honorable Mention | Zachary Street and Mirielle Strobel |
| Broadcast | Commercial/PSA | In Journalism | Superior | Abigail Coburn and Olivia McCully |
| Broadcast | News Story | Construction Update | Superior | Olivia McCully |
| Newspaper/Newsmagazine | News Feature | History of Nixa | Superior | Noah Cook |
| Newspaper/Newsmagazine | News Writing | Afghanistan: The History Behind the Fight | Superior | Zachary Street |
| Photography | Sports | Girls Swim | Superior | Alexis Ehly |
| Photography | Sports | Softball Slide | Superior | Chloe Fischer |
| Yearbook | Overall | Eagle | Superior | Staff |
Missouri Southern State University, Media Showcase Awards 2021
PUBLICATION
| News Photography | School | Title | Students |
| 3rd Place (tie) | Nixa | Nixa Spirit | Maleah Bays |
| News Writing | School | Title | Students |
| 1st Place | Nixa | Nixa Mayor Recall | Brycen Osborne |
| 2nd Place (tie) | Nixa | Afghanistan | Zachary Street |
| Nixa | Losing Track of Quarantines | Eli Dean, Nadia May, Jamie Scriven | |
| Nixa | Injection of Hope | Eli Dean |
| Page One Design | School | Title | Students |
| 1st Place | Nixa | Fall 2021 | Braden Dennis |
| Publication – Best Overall | School | Title | Students |
| 2nd Place | Nixa | Wingspan | Madalyn Tuning and Katelynn Gibson |
| Sports Writing | School | Title | Students |
| 1st Place | Nixa | From MO to Tokyo | Eli Dean |
| 2nd Place | Nixa | Back to The Mat | Katelynn Gibson |
| Comedy | School | Title | Students |
| 2nd Place | Nixa | Tik Tok Addiction | Bryce Paoli, Reid Martin, & Koby Graham |
| Multimedia | School | Title | Students |
| 1st Place | Nixa | COVID numbers | Darby Allen, Lily Maggard, and Phoebe Gardner |
| News Package | School | Title | Students |
| 1st Place | Nixa | You Matter | Delanie Goss |
| 2nd Place (tie) | Nixa | Misinformation | Lucas Finger |
| Podcast | School | Title | Students |
| 1st Place | Nixa | Valentine’s Day Goals | Will Rouhani, Evan Hirsch |
| Sports Package | School | Title | Students |
| 3rd Place | Nixa | Olympian Comes Back Home to Nixa | Elle Justice, Ryne Swanson, Zeltzin Mondragon-Garcia |
Awards won during the 2020-21 School Year
Quill and Scroll:
Wingspan magazine earned a top George H. Gallup award from the Quill and Scroll International Honor Society. Even amid a pandemic and stay-at-home orders, the Wingspan students continued to complete top-notch work, and it shows.
Among the judge’s comments:
“The staff and adviser are to be commended for all the hard work that was put into the publications. … This was a difficult year for the staff, but the quality of the news magazine and media site stayed strong.
Congratulations! You are among the world’s top student journalism programs!”
Columbia Scholastic Press Association:
Gold Medalist Award for the 2020 Yearbook
Silver Medalist Award for the 2020 Yearbook
Missouri Interscholastic Press Association’s J-Challenges:
September: Sophomore Eli Dean won a third place award for his photo of the Nixa vs. Joplin football game.
September: Junior Grace Kut won an Honorable Mention for her photo of Nixa football player Steven Ward II.
October: Senior Myah Snider won an Honorable Mention for her cheerleading photo.
November: Mia Paladino won first place for her swim photo.
Braden Dennis won Honorable Mention for his mountain bike photo.
First Place, Audio and Podcast Feature Story: Evan Hirsch, freshman, for his podcast “Teaching and Learning in a Quarantine World“
First Place, Feature Article Story: Nadia May, senior, for her story “Learning Behind the Screen“
Second Place, Broadcast Feature Story: Phoebe Gardner and Lily Maggard, sophomores, for their story “Adjusting to Masks at Nixa High School“
QUILL & SCROLL INDIVIDUAL CONTEST:
Congratulations to Mia Paladino and Gracie Schwarz for winning national awards in the Quill & Scroll International Honor Society’s 2021 news gathering competition.
Senior Mia Paladino won third place in the Sports Action Photography category for her boys swim photo.
Junior Gracie Schwarz won an Honorable Mention in the News Writing category for her story “Debating the Protests.”
Missouri Interscholastic Press Association:
Madalyn Tuning (12), editor-in-chief, and the Wingspan magazine staff: All Missouri Award for overall magazine.
Madalyn Tuning (12), editor-in-chief, and the Wingspan magazine staff: All Missouri Award in the In-Depth Feature category for the magazine’s pandemic coverage.
Darby Allen (11): All Missouri Award in the News Magazine Design category for her spread “Ramping Up.”
Braden Dennis (11): All Missouri Award in the Newsmagazine/Newspaper News Writing category for his story “The Butler Didn’t Do It.”
Nadia May (12): All Missouri Award in the Editorial Cartoon category for her drawing “Give it up and mask up.”
Gracie Schwarz (11): All Missouri Award in the Newsmagazine/Newspaper News Writing category for her story “Debating the Protests.”
Mia Paladino (12), Editor-in-Chief and Yearbook staff (11): Superior Award for Overall Yearbook (2019-20 school year).
Elizabeth Carr (9) and Olivia McCully (9): Superior Award in the Broadcasting News Feature category for their story “Winter Musical Revue.”
Grace Kut (11): Superior Award in the Sports Feature Photography category for her photo “Cheer Football.”
Ellie Sorgenfrei (10): Superior Award in the Broadcasting News Feature category for her story “Artists visit D.C.”
Mia Paladino (12), editor-in-chief, and Yearbook Staff: Excellent Award for Yearbook Theme “Timeless.”
Maleah Bays (11): Excellent Award in the Portrait Photography category for her photo “Vigil.”
Eli Dean (10): Excellent Award in the Newsmagazine/Newspaper Sports Reporting category for his story “Football Rebirth.”
Braden Dennis (11): Excellent Award in the Sports Photography category for his photo “Mountain Air.”
Abigail Coburn (10): Excellent Award in the Broadcasting News Feature category for her story “For the Love of K9s.”
Phoebe Gardner (10) and Lily Maggard (10): Excellent Award in the Broadcasting News Feature category for their story “Cold Stone TikTok.”
Lucas Finger (11): Excellent Award in the Broadcasting News Story category for his story “COVID Variants.”
Lucas Finger (11): Excellent Award in the Broadcasting News Story category for his story “Biden administration.”
Evan Hirsch (9): Excellent Award in the Radio/Podcast Newscast/News Feature category for his podcast “Teaching and Learning in a Quarantine World.”
T.J. Sorgenfrei (12) and Eli Dean (10): Honorable Mention Award in the Online Sports Package category for their story “Football Rebirth.”
Katelynn Gibson (11): Honorable Mention in the Newsmagazine/Newspaper News Feature category for her story “Reaching Above and Beyond.”
Grace Kut (11): Honorable Mention Award in the Student Life Photography category for her photo “Football Fans.”
Mia Paladino (12): Honorable Mention Award in the Sports Photography category for her photo “Swim Underwater.”
Dr. David Kelly, 2021 Administrator of the Year
