Westerville North High School’s newspaper, The Odyssey, was honored with four Marty Awards this month. Marty Awards recognize scholastic journalists in the areas of feature writing, news writing, opinion writing, sports writing and photography. They are sponsored by the Central Ohio Society of Professional Journalists and the Dispatch Media Group.
This year, The Odyssey awards include:
- First Place for Best Opinion Writing, “We stand with Westerville police officers,” by Gabrielle Cochran and Reilly Cochran;
- First Place for Best Sports Writing, “To letter or not to letter: that is the question,” by Mackie Mantenieks;
- Runner-Up for Best Photography for “Women's March,” by Carolynn Bructo; and
- Runner-Up for Best News Writing, “Community comes together through tragic loss,” by Ali Simpson and Carolynn Bructo.
First place winners receive framed certificates and cash prizes. Additionally, a story on the winners is running in ThisWeek Community News editions throughout Central Ohio; and will appear on ThisWeekNEWS.com, ColumbusParent.com and CentralOhioSPJ.org.
Established in 2011 as a contest for Central Ohio’s high school journalists, the awards are named after Suburban News Publications editor Marty Rozenman, who died in 2010. Rozenman mentored high school and college journalists during his time at SNP Publications and when he worked for The Columbus Dispatch.
Last year, The Marty’s writing competition received nearly 200 submissions. Five first place and five runner-up awards are given each year. Of the 10 this year, four were earned by The Odyssey writers and photographers. North teacher Maryann Hines advises The Odyssey.