Three publication staff members represented Canyon High School at the Texas Association of Journalism Educators Fall Fiesta in San Antonio Oct. 25-27 where students attended classes and competed with approximately 800 journalism students from across the state.  Junior and newspaper associate editor Allison Koontz won an “excellence” award in news writing while junior and assistant editor Avery Cummings won a “superior” award in review writing.

“It was an incredible feeling to know that my writing was worth a Superior,” Cummings said. “TAJE was a great experience with the staff. I hope next year more of the staff will be able to attend.”

TAJE offered class sessions to help journalism students learn more about design, writing and photography.  Cummings, Koontz  and junior yearbook editor-in-chief Erin Westermann attended the Fall Fiesta and learned ways to improve the yearbook and newspaper. Cummings said she learned how the online newspaper can be improved.

“We can improve interactive design for our readers,” Cummings said. “We can also improve what we are already doing as a staff and what we can do as a staff.”

Cummings said the hour-long classes had a variety of teachers.

“Some of the teachers we had were former journalism educators,” Cummings said. “There were also some bigger names in the industry, like college professors and professionals.”

Allison Koontz said the convention had classes that could benefit both the staff as a whole and each staff member individually.

“I took a social media class and a class on what an online paper needs to have in order to be successful,” Koontz said. “I also learned new ways to improve our site and how we can reach out to readers.”

Koontz also said there was a class about how a journalism degree can benefit anyone, no matter where their career may go.

“In the class, they really emphasized on having a minor in journalism along with whatever major you choose,” Koontz said. “With that, you can write about what you are mainly passionate about like psychology or biology.”

Koontz said having a journalism degree is great when looking for a job.

“It looks very appealing to have a writing background and the ability to write after you graduate from college and start looking for a job,” Koontz said.

In addition to the writing awards, Canyon High took home two photography awards on photos submitted prior to the convention. Senior Lauren Moore won “honorable mention” in newspaper photography while sophomore Kaylee Mays won “honorable mention” for yearbook photography. Both photos will appear in the 2015 yearbook.