Carrying a record 18 in-person participants and submitting work from even more, the Neenah Satellite staff attended the annual Northeast Wisconsin Scholastic Press Association Conference in Oshkosh on April 19, winning a grand total of 77 awards with 19 blue-ribbon awards.

Attendees from across the state traveled to the Reeve Memorial Union on the UW-Oshkosh Campus to attend a day of lectures and informational sessions from the university’s various professors in the Departments of Journalism, and Radio, TV and Film, teaching them how to improve their work.

The Satellite brought its regular meeting members, while also inviting students from the journalism class.  The scope of the lectures included instruction for both traditional written journalism as well as multimedia journalism, with some sessions even providing live, interactive critiques of work that students submitted for the competition.

Gallery • 21 Photos

The publication (website) earned red-ribbon honors.  The critique of the publication noted:  “Coverage is comprehensive, focusing on many aspects of the high school community it serves, including academics, school activities, faculty and administration, and student affairs.”

Nearly all attendees from Neenah returned home with an award in their hands.  The day’s biggest winners were Editor-in-Chief, Elaina Plankey and Assistant Editor-in-Chief, Robert Barthell, with 17 and 15 individual awards, respectively.

Both of these individuals will be graduating next month, prompting the selection of two new editors for the 2023-’24 school year. These are Ava Yoblonski and Jack Morrissey.  A new addition to the staff, Yoblonski accompanied the Satellite’s more experienced members to the conference and took nearly all the photos in this story.  She is a member of the Tech. team and brings valuable technical and leadership skills.  Morrissey is a regular attendee at weekly meetings and has expressed himself through creative artwork and graphic contributions for which he won awards.

Both agree that, as editors, they will strive to maintain the legacy left behind by Plankey and Barthell.  However, they mentioned interest in creating more editorials, cartoons and graphical content.

“It’s too early in the process.  Maybe, later down the line we’ll have some stuff we want to add on, but for now, I can say I’m satisfied with how the Satellite is operating,” Morrissey said.

“Maybe I’ll make a cooler t-shirt,” Yoblonski enthusiastically added.