A serial podcast produced at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School has received Multimedia Feature Story of the Year honors from the National Scholastic Press Association, which recognizes strong work by student journalists and fosters careers in media. Submissions to NSPA contests are considered the best of the best in student journalism, and the judges have noted that much of the winning work is of professional quality, according to Dunbar adviser Wendy Turner.
Dunbar graduate Pamela Stravitz, senior Keaton Allen, and juniors Brooke Bledsoe and Emily Liu were the staff for the first season of Torch (2014-2015), created in the Broadcast Journalism class. “Basically, we were influenced by Sarah Koenig’s serial podcast and decided to do something similar to her work. We created our own version of a podcast series, and decided to have the theme be teens and driving,” Turner said. “At Dunbar, we have lost many students to car accidents over the years, and we focused segments on two of them: Episode 5—Jesse Higginbotham and Episode 7—Hannah Landers. Those two episodes were certainly the most emotional.”
This academic year, Keaton and Brooke are producing the podcast series, which will offer seven episodes dealing with teens and mental illnesses. “The response has been overwhelming because so many want to share their stories with us,” said Turner, the 2014 James L. Highland High School Media Adviser of the Year. “The more we tell each other our stories, the closer a community we become. Torch has become so much more than just a podcast — it’s actually helping people.”
The Lamplighter staff will present their work at the Kentucky High School Journalism Association’s annual conference Jan. 21 at the Hyatt in Lexington.