Argus Writers Honored at Baruch High School Journalism Conference
The Argus took home three first place awards for opinion writing, illustration, and national news with a local lens. Photo: Catherine Kaczmarek
By THE ARGUS STAFF
Writers for the Argus won three first place awards for outstanding high school journalism at the Baruch College Journalism Conference on April 24.
Juniors Mueez Manzoor and Zainab Batool won first place citywide in opinion writing for their article “Will Education Be Able to Survive A.I.?,” Xavier Lin ‘26 won first place citywide for illustration with “Chalk Memories,” and juniors Erisa Mani and Ayelen Fernandez won first place in the regular division for national news with a local lens with their piece “The Decline in Youth Literacy Is an Emergency.”
“This article was not something I usually wrote about, and it was a bit difficult branching out, but I tried my best,” Mani said. “The writing process was truly hectic. I used to be a troubled writer and could never get past my thesis statement, so hearing my name get called meant so much to a younger version of myself that still lives. It proved to me that with consistency and dedication, I can do anything.”
Alongside over 30 other high school newspapers, members of the Argus staff spent the school day on the 14th floor of Baruch’s Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, on 24th St and Lexington Ave. To start the day, students attended two rounds of hour-long workshops focused on writing, reporting, and editing skills. Topics including “Scripting Your Podcast,” “The Essentials of Photojournalism,” and “Story Ideas” were hosted by professionals, like Bureau Chief of Chalkbeat New York Amy Zimmer.
Argus Editor-in-Chief Stefanie Rykhlo ‘26 attended the "You on TV!" workshop, hosted by Jamie Roth, an Emmy award-winning news reporter and adjunct professor at Columbia University.
"One of my biggest takeaways was that having authenticity is one of the important aspects of journalism," Rykhlo said. "Roth used real examples to help students understand how delivery can completely change the way a story is perceived. She encouraged us to pay attention to body language and pacing, and notice what keeps audiences engaged."
Amelia Crawford ‘27 enjoyed the “Minding Legal Matters” workshop. Mona Houck “made the lecture funny and tied it to recent events, which made it relevant and interesting,” Crawford said. “Law is also what I want to pursue in the future, so it’s almost like I was killing two birds with one stone by learning about the legal aspects of journalism. I was also surprised by how much of the content I already knew because of what we learned in Journalism class.”
Manzoor went to the “Using Data to Deepen Your Reporting” workshop. “We were able to go in depth in finding ways to improve articles by adding data, and also finding ways to source such data,” he said. “We reviewed articles from schools across the city, which we subsequently broke down to find ways to add stats or consult relevant government agencies, which could be later used in a study to bring about change.”
Following lunch, judges began announcing awards across nine categories, each with a Regular and New Newspaper division. The Townsend Harris Classic came away with the grand prize: Best Overall High School Newspaper.
In the past few years, the Argus has also won recognition at the event for sports writing and feature writing, along with other wins in opinion writing and illustration.
“People always talk about prestigious institutions such as Stuyvesant and Townsend Harris, which were just a couple of the schools we were going up against, and being able to come out on top tells me that you can still strive to be one of the best no matter where you are,” Mani said. “It reminded me that I made the right choice when choosing Midwood.”