Irvine High's El Vaquero student newspaper named best in Southern California

Irvine High School’s student newspaper has earned first place in a prestigious journalism competition. The El Vaquero bested publications from 21 other high schools to win the Newspaper Sweepstakes at the 2011 Southern California Journalism Education Association State Write-Off Competition, held May 14 at Walnut High School. Fourteen staffers took part, earning 71 team points while racking up a number of individual honors. The team included Emily Chen, Rilla Peng, Crystal Huang, Michelle Kim, Nicole Kim, Audrey Lazarra, Jonathan Zhao, Selina Serosh, Radhika Raj, Shikar Gupta, Clinton O'Grady and Amna Ejaz. Irvine High also won the Newspaper Sweepstakes at the Orange County Journalism Education Association Write-Off in February. Adviser Julie Braun said writers in the news, editorial, feature and sports categories had to qualify at the county level to compete in the Southern California contest. Meanwhile, staff members from the Northwood High School Howler were among those who earned honors at the SCJEA Write-Off. To view the full list of winners from Irvine and Northwood, click here.