The 2019 Tiger Paw yearbook received third place in the Best of Show competition at the National High School Journalism Convention (Nov. 21-23) in Washington, D.C. This is the highest rating Tiger Paw has ever received in the Best of Show contest sponsored by the National Scholastic Press Association. 

OHS students earned 10 individual awards in student media contests at the national convention. Two entries won Superior awards, the highest rating possible in each contest. Jordan Beseda (12) earned a Superior award in the Broadcast Anchor category, while Sarah Goodson (12) received Superior in Yearbook Copy and Captions: Sports. 

Brittany Kohne (12) earned an Excellent rating in her Broadcast News Writing contest and Amanda Parker (11) received an Excellent rating in Editorial Writing. Sam Gindler (First-Year Photo), Katelyn Jackson (Yearbook Copy and Captions: Academics) Cassandra Ludwig (News Writing), Lydia Manning (Feature Writing), Emily Merritt (Sports Action Photography) and Davin Smith (General or Spot News Photography) all received honorable mention awards. 

“If I’m quite honest, I felt happy that I got some recognition,” said Merritt. “I ended up crying.” 

A record of 2,126 students participated in the contest. Only 864 (40.6%) students received awards.