Kirkwood Call Staff Earn National Honors in Quill and Scroll, NFPW Competitions

Kirkwood High School Journalism students were announced as winners or finalists in national competitions.

Quill and Scroll

Quill and Scroll announced the finalists in the 2025 Writing, Visual, Multimedia competition. More than 120 schools submitted entries to this year’s contest, for a total of more than 2,200 entries. KHS students announced as finalists are:

• Bri Raak (junior) for News Magazine Front Page Design for TKC's issue 5 cover

• The Kirkwood Call Social Media Team, led by editor Grace Volz, is a finalist for the Instagram posts they made for the charity issue.

The winners will be announced April 26 at the JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism Convention in Seattle.

National Federation of Press Women High School Communication Contest

Seniors Sophia Webb and Grace Volz are both award winners in the National Federation of Press Women High School Communication Contest. These entries are from the first-round At-Large competition (for students where state affiliates do not host their own competition). Sophia won third place in the columns/blogs category for "Project 2025 for Dummies" and Grace won first place in the opinions category for "Blocking our Education." As a first place winner, Grace will go on to enter the national competition, and the results will be announced via an online ceremony on Zoom, May 14.

More about their entries:

1. Sophia Webb - Third Place in Columns/Blogs for "Project 2025 for Dummies" 

The judge commented: "I am impressed. I tried to research Project 2025 on my own before the election, but it was so cumbersome and media outlets could be so varied in what they presented that, frankly, I was lost. I learned more from your column (and easily digested it) than I did from all the sources I sought out on my own. Your promise of an article "for dummies" was successfully met. Well done!"

2. Grace Volz – First Place in Opinions for "Blocking our Education" article in The Kirkwood Call. Grace’s article was selected out of 25 entries in the category. Her story will move on to the national competition. The winners will be announced via Zoom in May. Judge’s comments included: "A well-articulated opinion piece that brings up a number of good points to consider. I especially like that you drew attention to a hot topic (gun violence) that cannot be searched on school computers as well as your desire to learn to recognize misinformation and disinformation, but blocking websites can hinder that teaching."

The NFPW High School Communications Contest, one of only a few nationwide communications competitions for high school students. It inspires students to do outstanding work in their quest for excellence. In this highly acclaimed competition, entries are judged at three levels.