El Vaquero, Irvine High School’s student-run newspaper, placed 1st in newspaper sweepstakes at the Orange County Journalism Education Association (OCJEA) Write-Offs held Saturday, Feb. 17 at Fullerton College, as well as 2nd in Best of Show, Div. 1.
Twenty-four staffers competed. Students who placed in the top 10 in the categories of news, editorial, feature, and sports qualify for the Southern California Journalism Education Association (SCJEA) state write-offs scheduled for Saturday, March 17 at Rancho Dominquez Prep School in Long Beach.
Students who placed at this year’s event included Mehr Bawa and Hansika Sundaresan in news; Christine Park and Sahil Patne in sports; and Hala Ozgur and Tanvi Wagh in feature writing. Other winners included Christine Park and Lina Wang in editorial cartooning and Dana Morshed in critical review.
Candace An and Evelynn Chen earned honorable mention in novice news, Stephanie Hu and Andrew Tang earned excellent ratings in novice news, and Karina Seth and Harini Sundaram earned superior ratings in novice news.
Around 250 students and 14 schools from around Orange County participated in this year’s annual event.
Irvine High has won top honors in 1981, 1991, 2001, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2017 and is the only school since competition began back in 1973 to now have won three years in a row.
Northwood High School placed 2nd, followed by Woodbridge in 3rd, Troy in 4th, and Fountain Valley in 5th.