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The frantic rustling of pencils. The darting of eyes across the room. About 30 students were seated on the edge of their chairs in a confer-ence room to cover a Press Conference. The participants received their prompts promptly at the start of the contest at 4 p.m. Joe Humphrey, the Florida Scholastic Press Association (FSPA) Evaluations Coordinator, led the conference with a 25 minute explanation of the new Sunshine Standout awards.

According to Humphrey, while judging publications, certain yearbooks always stand out. “There are some books that you look at and you’re like ‘how did they do that?’ and they are inspiring,” he said. “That’s really a thing where people who follow this business and care about it can talk intelligently about books that are 30 years old.”

Newly introducedUnlike the All-Florida, Gold, Silver and

Bronze awards which were announced prior to the FSPA convention, the Best of the Best awards will be revealed for the first time at the banquet. According to Humphrey, the FSPA panel established the awards as a way to create suspense and excitement. “We have some of the best publica-tions in Florida and we wanted to award that,” he said.

Students were also given supplemental quotes for the press conference story to provide additional sources. Renee Burke, a newspaper judging panelist, said that they added these awards for the publications to award students’ extra level of excellence. “The best of the best each stood out for the breadth of compelling topics they contain, as well as cutting-edge style,” Burke said. “They went above what the score-book suggests they contain in their publications.”

Throughout the conference, Humphrey included jokes and made the audience laugh despite the high stress environment. “What’s the one thing about these awards that stand out?” a

student from the audience asked. “It’s a plaque,” Humphrey responded with short humor. He was also quick to make fun of his frequent use of “ums.”

Out of the five mediums, 35 publications were awarded an All-Florida award. A panel of three judges of out-of-state current advisors and former advisors further narrowed down these publications by selecting 12 Best of the Best winners. There were 6 yearbooks, 2 newspapers, 1 websites, 1 literary magazines and 2 broadcasts that won the Sunshine Standout awards.

The processOnce the publications were recommended

as an All-Florida, they were mailed to some-one else to review. Although the judges faced disagreements, Humphrey said that most of the publications that were awarded an All-Florida did not change. However, the Gold and Silver had some movement. Yearbooks were judged in

one day by the panel for eight hours. “It’s easy to make the first pile and a lot harder to make the final pile,” Humphrey said. “You can tell between an All-Florida and a Silver pretty quickly, you can look at three to four spreads and tell and then it’s going back and

refining them.”According to Humphrey, the content of the

publications is the primary focus but creativity was also valued in the judging process. “Themes were unique, clever and school specific, but most importantly, were developed both visually and verbally, cover to cover,” Harris said.

Even though not all publications will win, Humphrey encouraged the students to come back and work harder in the future. “It’s done with the right intention but sometimes people tend to get caught up in the detail of it… but just celebrate the people that got it and try to get it next year and don’t worry about it,” he said.

STORY BY CATHY HOLMES

PRESSING MATTERS

“We have some of the best publications in

Florida and we wanted to award that.”-JOE HUMPHREY

TOP FSPA attendee prepares to record for her group broadcast entry. LEFT During the press conference competition, students asked Joe Humphrey questions. MIDDLE Students set up their camera in preparation for an interview. RIGHT An interview for a contest submission takes place. PHOTOS BY JON SMITH AND LUCINDA BROWN AND VALERIE JAMES

What are your pre-contest vibes?who said it?

“Opinions are like my favorite type of writ-

ing and so I’m excited to be writing on the spot.” – KAYLA GATES, 9

“I’m pretty excited about it, this year

they’re letting us do our own song, so we

have a lot more creativ-ity.”– KYLE KOBLER, 12

“I’m currently just confident. My big-

gest worry right now is lighting, it’s my

biggest problem.” – ENRIQUE ROSS, 12

“I’m excited about it, I love being here.”- LAUREN SARGENT, 11

“I came very prepared and I’ve always been

great in social media so I think this will be the right choice for me.” –

SAHERA VINECI, 11

COMPILED BY CINDERELLA