Journalism students named to All-State Staff
Four students recognized for achievements
By: Karen West
The University Interscholastic League has named senior Trinity Noll, sophomore Allison Sims and graduates Garrett Cook and Karson Lott to the 2022 All-State journalism staff.
The league announced staff members in August based on a culmination of points earned throughout the previous school year. Students earn points from UIL journalism competitions at invitationals, district, region and state level as well as other state and national writing competitions for both individuals and publications. A student journalist becomes eligible for the All-State staff by earning 50 or more points over the course of the year.
“When I got All State Journalism my sophomore year it was sort of a shock to me,” Noll said. “When I started my junior year, it was an expectation. We track our points throughout the year. Many points come from UIL meets, newspaper stories and yearbook spreads. Being an editor also gave me many more opportunities to receive points. All-State is something that is in the back of my mind and keeps me on track knowing that I have to place well at every UIL meet and do my best to write great stories for the newspaper. For me, it is a tracker and a baseline for how well I should be doing each year.”
Noll competes in two events, feature writing and editorial writing, advancing to the regional meet in feature writing last year. She serves as this year’s Gauger editor. Sims competes in two UIL journalism events, copy editing and editorial writing. She competed in the State UIL Academic Meet in Austin last year and placed fourth in editorial writing.
Alumni Cook and Lott also competed in two events throughout the year. Both served in leadership positions last year, yearbook and newspaper editor, respectively. Cook competed in copy editing and headline writing and completed his high school career at the State UIL Academic meet as the state champion in copy editing. Lott competed in two events, news and feature writing, and served as an alternate to the state meet in feature writing.