Eagle Eye Wins Six Keystone Media Awards
The 2023 Keystone Press Award winners. Front row: Hailey Vanish, Xena Sieminski, Ashlynn McKinney, Allison Beeman. Second row: Austin Lucas, Colton Veres, Logan Rumberger, Drayvn Crowell, Andrew Weaver (absent from photo: 2022 grad Ellie Oakes).
The 2023 Student Keystone Media Awards were announced online on February 21st and it was a big year for the Eagle Eye News.
The Eagle Eye won six state-wide awards for high school journalism from the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, including two first-place awards.
The contest is open to all high school and college journalists in Pennsylvania and recognizes journalism that provides “relevance, integrity, and initiative” in serving readers.
“I’m proud of all our entries this year. Obviously, I’m happy for the students who placed, but I’m also proud of the ones that didn’t. There were so many great topics and stories that were written last year and the competition is always strong for these awards,” said Eagle Eye advisor Todd Cammarata.
Tyrone’s top writing award was in the Personality Profile category by seniors Hailey Vanish and Xena Sieminski. They co-authored the first-place story “Tyrone Alumni Experience Ian Firsthand.”
Vanish and Sieminski shared first-hand accounts of several Tyrone alums who were living in the path of Hurricane Ian.
“Xena and I worked really hard on the article and interviewed several graduates of Tyrone, and got to hear their perspectives on going through a hurricane. It was a great accomplishment to receive the award,” said Vanish. “I was thrilled that we won,” added Sieminski.
The contest follows the calendar year, not the academic calendar, so one of the Eagle Eye’s other winners this year was TAHS Class of 2022 graduate Ellie Oakes. Oakes earned second place in the Personality Profile category for her piece “Remembering Tyrone Sports Legend Coach Tom Miller.”
Oakes interviewed friends, family, and former players of Tyrone teacher and coach Tom Miller who passed away last year. Oakes is currently a freshman at the University of Pittsburgh.
Senior Ashlynn McKinney was awarded first place in the Sports Photography category for her photo of Tyrone swimmer Victoria Reese in the backstroke in a meet against Altoona.
Junior Allison Beeman won second place in Sports Photography with her photo of the Tyrone Lady Eagles soccer team celebrating their playoff game-winning goal against Forest Hills.
“I have always thought of photography as a passion and a hobby, so being rewarded for that is so awesome. The Eagle Eye program works very hard in everything they do and it is such an honor to be a part of it,” said Beeman.
In the Podcast Category, the Eagle Eye took two of the three award spots.
“I am especially proud of our podcast entries. The students have shown a lot of creativity and growth in this area in the past few years. Podcasts are one of the fastest growing forms of digital media, so taking two out of three of the awards in this category is a great accomplishment,” said Cammarata.
Juniors Andrew Weaver and Dravyn Crowell earned second place for their “BAD Podcast: Halloween Theme Shows.”
In this three-episode Halloween-themed series, Weaver and Crowell interviewed a local author who has published several volumes of ghost stories, a local paranormal ghost hunter, and several students and teachers, who all shared some ghost stories.
Logan Rumberger, Colton Veres, and Austin Lucas earned third place in this category with their TSPN Podcast (Tyrone Sports Podcast Network). The podcast features a weekly rundown of all Tyrone sports and always features a special sports guest.
“The B.A.D. podcast’s Halloween episodes had a great theme and great guests, and the TSPN podcast does its research every week, gets great guests, and asks all the right questions. Anyone who is a Tyrone sports fan needs to be watching this podcast,” said Cammarata.
The winning students will receive their awards at a luncheon held in Harrisburg by the Keystone Press Association on April 26.
To see a complete list of all the winners from across the state, click the link below:
Brady Ronan is a senior at Tyrone. This is his third year doing Eagle Eye and he is excited that he is doing this, as he is really interested in sports...
Hello, this is Ashlynn! She is a senior and this is her third and final year in Eagle Eye. She is very involved in her school community; she is an officer...
Allison Beeman is a senior in high school and in her third year of Eagle Eye. When Allison is not in school, she enjoys playing softball as an outfielder....
Mr. Todd Cammarata, or "TCamm" as he is known to the Eagle Eye Staff, has been advising the Eagle Eye since 2013. He also advises the Eagle Yearbook...
