Apr. 28, 2014

Contributed by Pakalani Bello

Highlighted by KS Maui’s Best in State in the online division and KS Kapālama’s second place finish in the print division, all three Kamehameha Schools campuses were represented at the annual awards ceremony for the 2014 Hawai‘i High School Journalism Awards sponsored by the Hawaii Publishers Association.

All three campuses attended the ceremony, sitting together at the luncheon.

KS Maui’s “Ka Leo O Nā Koa” won the online division Best in State award for the third consecutive year, winning 14 awards overall. With the award being just three years old, “Ka Leo O Nā Koa” has won the award every year of its existence. This is the fourth year in a row that KS Maui won a Best in State award, as they also won the print awards in 2011 and 2013.

With just four students this year, the KS Maui staff focused on their online component, producing just three print issues. Along with the Best in State award, “Ka Leo O Nā Koa” was the state and private school winner for online news writing, editorial writing, illustration and best multimedia presentation. The KS Maui staff also won the state and private school award for print illustration while winning the private school awards for print editorial writing, online sports writing and online photography. Maile Sur, staff writer, was selected as KS Maui’s most valuable staffer.

“Covering everything that our school does has been a real struggle with such a small staff this year,” KS Maui Advisor Kye Haina said. “But I have to give the girls credit for pulling it off and churning it out all year long. Now, time to focus on our last print issue.”

“Ka Mō‘ī,” the KS Kapālama school newspaper, finished second behind Mililani for the Best in State print award. “Ka Mō‘ī” was the state and private school winner for Print Editorial Cartoon and was the private school winner for Print News Writing. Editor in Chief Chayla Nakamoto was their most valuable staffer.

Alyssa Volivar, editor in chief, was the most valuable staffer for KS Hawai‘i.