2020 Achievement Award Winners celebrated

The 2020 Achievement Award winners were announced during the GSPA virtual awards on April 30. These awards honor everything from successful, brand-new publications to outstanding high school leadership. Congratulations to all of the winners!

Administrators of the Year: Mr. Brody Hughes, Dawson County High School and Mr. Shane Ratliff, Starr’s Mill High School

Administrator of the Year recognizes an administrator who has demonstrated strong support for a scholastic journalism program. This year, GSPA honored two recipients. 

Mr. Brody Hughes, principal of Dawson County High School, frequently drops by the yearbook room to check if the adviser and staff need anything. He has been a trustworthy liaison with the superintendent on sensitive issues that could have had long term effects if published in the yearbook. Adviser Mrs. Pamela Amendola says Mr. Hughes has been fair and clear-cut in his representation of the student body without denigrating the integrity of student expression.

Mr. Shane Ratliff, athletic director and assistant principal, has gone above and beyond to support student journalists at Starr’s Mill High School. According to staff at The Prowler, Mr. Ratliff helped them to secure tickets for state playoff games, assisted in partnerships with coaches, and helped set up the 100th episode of “Coach’s Corner.” When purchasing a new scorer’s table for the school’s basketball teams, he opted for a longer table so that the journalists would have a court-side seat next to the statisticians. Mr. Ratliff also granted access to a new social media platform that will strengthen the publication’s bond with the Athletic Department for years to come. 

Congratulations to both administrators, and thank you for your support of scholastic journalism!

Adviser of the Year: Mr. David Ragsdale, Clarke Central High School

The Adviser of the Year award honors a journalism adviser who goes beyond the “call of duty” in supporting his or her staff. Read the full story here.

Community Service: Pitchfork Staff, Marietta High School

The Community Service award recognizes a staff that, through its forum, has initiated significant change within the community.

Marietta High School’s Pitchfork newspaper staff set a goal of focusing coverage on several areas of need in the community and sharing service opportunities for students related to those needs. They dedicated a page of each issue to topics such as voting, World Kindness Day,  Blue Devil student community service leaders, and the school’s Read Woke book initiative.

Congratulations to the staff at Pitchfork for their dedication to their school community!

First Year Adviser: Mrs. Shannon McGahee, The King’s Academy

The First-Year Adviser award recognizes a new adviser who has demonstrated success and desire in strengthening the program.

It was a tall order to fill a beloved retired adviser’s shoes, but this year’s recipient embraced her role at The King’s Academy with energy and enthusiasm. According to members of her staff, Mrs. Shannon McGahee “has not only outlined the structure of The Verve by implementing a fresh and engaging series of journalism and AP lectures, but she has painted the social standing of (the) publication with a novel shade of grace and humility… With her unwavering support and guidance, we have completely revamped our branding, crafted VerveNow, a breaking-news platform, and executed our annual school fundraising dance with soaring ticket sales. Mrs. McGahee swept floors, delivered food, and offered comfort and management to each individual student.” Congratulations on a banner year!

Freedom of the Press: Brooke Eldridge, South Forsyth High School

The Freedom of the Press award recognizes a producer of work that demonstrated solid reporting and insight, but was censored from student publication.  

For her piece, “Secrets behind the walls of psychiatric hospitals,” a personal account of a mental health journey, the winner of the Freedom of the Press Award is Brooke Eldridge of The Bird Feed at South Forsyth High School.

Perseverance: Zoe Hester and Zoe Hill, Dawson County High School

The Perseverance award recognizes staff members who have overcome significant adversity to put out a quality product.

According to adviser Mrs. Pamela Amendola, two staff members at Dawson County High School’s yearbook have gone above and beyond to help their publication succeed. Congratulations to recipients Zoe Hester, editor in charge, and Zoe Hill, design editor, of Tiger. 

Start-up: The Liberty Bell, Mount Pisgah Christian School

The Start-Up award recognizes a first-year publication/program that has demonstrated significant quality.

Adviser Mr. Orrin Swayze and his newspaper staff at Mount Pisgah Christian School built The Liberty Bell from the ground up. Everything was a first time experience: learning the ins and outs of InDesign, leading a team of reporters, and putting an entire publication together and distributing it to the school community. Staff describe it as an extremely difficult process that required hours of time to successfully put together. The first publication was met with showers of praise. Editor-in-chief Carly Phares said teachers and students were overjoyed with the opportunity to read stories for the Mount Pisgah community written by the Mount Pisgah community.

Turnaround: Haleigh Truelove and Sierra Vaughan, Dawson County High School

The Turnaround award recognizes staff members who have significantly changed the quality of their publication from the previous year.

With their organizational skills and positive attitudes, Haleigh Truelove, Business and Social Media Manager, and Sierra Vaughan, Photo Co-Editor, of Dawson County High School’s Tiger yearbook have helped the publication rise to another level.