Every year, the Washington State Journalism Education Association recognizes one student journalist, awarding them the title of Washington State Journalist of the Year and a $2,000 Robin Morris Memorial Scholarship.
This year, the winner of this title was Puyallup High School senior Lola Woodburn.
Woodburn first discovered media production when previewing classes as a freshman, and since then she has become a leader within Viking Student Media, serving as Executive Producer of the Viking News Network show.
“I hadn’t really found anything that I was super passionate about yet, so I thought that this class would be a good thing to try out. The way we learned in class worked really well for me, and I learned about storytelling, about the importance of it, and not only how to physically work the cameras, but the impact and the ethics that come with visual storytelling,” Woodburn said.
Coming into Woodburn’s senior year, VSM adviser Sandra Coyer told Woodburn that her background as a multi-talented journalist made her a strong candidate for Journalist of the Year. Woodburn began constructing a portfolio of her best work to be submitted to judges.
“I believe that there are 11 components that range from photojournalism videos to leadership and editing, to media literacy, ethics and law. You create a portfolio with all these components and a personal narrative, resume, headshot, and a few letters of recommendation,” Woodburn said.
After submitting her application, Woodburn anxiously awaited the results of the competition. Finally, early on Feb. 27, Woodburn found out that she had been selected as Journalist of the Year.
“I was sitting for a good two weeks at least going, ‘I just want to know!” I needed an answer. I kept talking to Mrs. Coyer and she would look at me and say ‘It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.’ I was probably overreacting, but I was very focused on it, stressed in a way where I just couldn’t stand not knowing,” Woodburn said. “Then I was in the back room during class one morning when I was asked to come into the main room. There were a bunch of people standing at the entrance of our classroom, so as soon as I saw everyone, I kind of figured it out. Everyone was clapping and yelling, and I was very, very happy.”
As the State Journalist of the Year, Woodburn represented Washington at the National High School Journalism Convention this April in Seattle. Woodburn was acknowledged in front of over 3,500 media students, educators, and experts.
“I was able to meet other journalists of the year from other states. I sat listening to kids who had the exact same interests as me talk about what they are doing at their schools. It was really cool to see kids across the nation who have the same goals and passions,” Woodburn said.
Woodburn’s experience with journalism helped shape her post-high school trajectory. After graduation, she plans to double major in Business Marketing and Communications with a Public Relations concentration at George Fox University.
“I would like to eventually have a career in some sort of visual marketing, storytelling, video editing or something along those lines. One thing I’ve learned from being in these classes is that there are so many different jobs that I can do with the skills I have,” Woodburn said. “If you asked me two years ago what I wanted to do in college, I would have panicked and been like, ‘I have no clue, and I don’t know what to do. Stop asking me.’ But now I have this kind of set path for what I want to pursue in college, and I think I’ll enjoy it a lot.”
Woodburn is the third Washington State Journalist of the Year to come from the PHS media program during Coyer’s tenure as adviser. Though Woodburn acknowledges that working in student media is time consuming and requires focus and hard work, she also believes that joining a journalism class can be a rewarding experience.
“It takes a certain type of person to have an amount of dedication to creating things that aren’t always for yourself, but I also think that it feels so rewarding when you have spent so much time and planning and effort into creating something that other people are going to see that. It is a really great feeling,” Woodburn said. “Not only did I learn a bunch of technical skills that I can use in a career, but I have also been constantly working with other people and having to communicate and take into consideration others’ ideas. I’ve learned how to work well with other people.”
