The SNO Report: Best of Best of SNO

It’s May, plants are finally blooming in Minnesota, promposals are yesterday’s news, and “Wrap it Up!” is flashing on the teleprompter out in front of us. So, this week we’re handing out some end of the year Best of SNO superlatives. And what a year it was for student journalism. Not unlike the national media, students had a lot to cover from all the people and events at your school to national movements that had especially local footprints this year. You crushed it.

Of the hundreds of great stories told this year, here’s a sampling of our favorites:

Best Strange But Still News Story
“Wild hawk spotted devouring squirrel on quad,” by Claire Furse, St. John’s School

Best In The Classroom Story
“Freshman English classes participate in privilege walk activity,” by Hadley Hudson, Vandegrift High School

Most Inventive Analysis 
“Anatomy of a teen movie,” by Blythe Terry, Starr’s Mill High School

Best Enterprise Reporting
“College-bound students weigh how far to fly the coop,” by Hannah Jannol, Shalhevet High School

Best College Edition Story
“Go big or go home: Colleges fight waning enrollment,” by the Jetstream Staff, Simpson College 

Best Sports Story
“A day in the life of a Whitman pom,” by Eva Herscowitz, Walt Whitman High School

Biggest Viral Hit
“Tesla’s Women Engineers,” with 10,450 views since March, by Ajooni Grewal, Day Creek Intermediate School

Best Unpopular Opinion
“Trump robbed of ‘Person of the Year’ award,” by Yianni Sarris, Mayfield High School

Best Editorial
“Commentary: Why I walked out of our ‘walkout’,” by Maya Wernick, The Archer School for Girls

Best Review
“This is what makes us girls: a ‘Sour Heart’ review,” by Luke Reynolds, Iowa City West High School

Best Exploratory Reporting
“Students torn over controversial net neutrality repeal,” by Mohini Rye, Sacramento Country Day School

Best Hurricane Coverage
“Surviving the storm,” by Katie Felton, Lovejoy High School, and “‘Life is definitely going to be different now’,” by Katelyn Spivey, Canyon High School

Best Localized #MeToo Story
“Not just Hollywood: The culture of harassment in schools,” by Julia Radhakrushnan, Abby Wheatley, Rebecca Chapman, Hannah Chambliss and Peyton Humphreys, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School

Best Video Feature
“Carnegie Hall awaits junior violinist,” video by Divya Murali and Neha Perumalla with story by Brooke Colombo, Liberty High School

There’s so much more excellent work to check out. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading it all as much as we have.