The PHS online newspaper phsprowl.com earned theAll-State Online Newspaper Award  when 18 journalists traveled to Riverton on Monday, Nov. 5, for the state journalism convention.

This was Powell’s this first time participating in any statewide competition. Eighteen teams from all state classifications participated in the annual fall convention.

“My immediate reaction after winning the award [was] I had a tremendous amount of pride,”  said Prowl Adviser Mr.Vin Cappiello, who spent time during the convention “ … observing around the classrooms and I got a chance to talk to other advisers.”

Other than winning, the journalism students also went through different journalistic workshop during the day including: Toxic Communication; The Art of Interview; The Lead; Screenwriting for Journalists; Dazzle Your Readers with Captivating Captions, etc. Most of these classes were taught by members of the Wyoming Press Association or staff from the University of Wyoming or Central Wyoming College (the venue for the event).

“My favorite class was Videography because it had a lot of cool tips and broke down all the parts of a video,” sophomore Abby Landwehr said. “I learned that you should not delete photos off the back of your camera because you might corrupt the SD card.”

Participants also listened to keynote speaker Mr. Chad Baldwin, the vice president for marketing and communications at the University of Wyoming. He talked about his career as a journalist and different ways to succeed at writing and becoming a journalist.

“It’s still the local newspaper that provides the most reliable news,” said Mr. Baldwin, who grew up in Riverton. “Journalists are not the enemy of the people.”

Mr. Cappiello said he took away one important concept Baldwin covered.

“The importance of being able to write, and the fact that it is still at the root of what we do,” Mr. Cappiello said.