Wingspan receives top state and national honors

Wingspan named one of nation's best online news sites

The WTV Daily Update was recognized on Thursday as one of the nation’s top scholastic broadcast programs by the National Scholastic Press Association, being named one of the 17 finalists for the Broadcast Pacemaker competition. 

Finalists are selected based on coverage and content; quality of reporting, leadership, design, photography, and graphics.

To executive producer, senior Cooper Ragle, the recognition is a reflection of all the work he and the staff put into the program.

“It feels really nice,” Ragle said. “I think all of us executive producers, producers, reporters, Higgins, all of us I think just put in so much hard work on a day-to-day basis. It’s really nice to be recognized for that and to see all the hard work we put in, not just single handedly, but altogether.”

Overseeing the staff, broadcast adviser Brian Higgins is proud to see their work being recognized.

“Being recognized as one of the nation’s best is rewarding no matter what you do,” Higgins said. “And I think for the WTV Daily Update, I see how hard Kirthi, Alyssa, Cooper, and the rest of them work on a daily basis and to me, it’s rewarding to see their work recognized on a national level.”

Executive producers Ragle, senior Alyssa Murphy, and senior Kirthi Gummadi believe the balance between the adviser providing support and the producers making their own decisions have created a strong foundation for the program that sets it apart.

“We kind of have a good balance between our adviser providing his support but us also us taking control of what we do and making our own decisions,” Gummadi said. “So as far as being a producer, we get to make our own decisions, divide what we want to put up and then we get the added support of Mr. Higgins and he kind of helps us improve what we’ve already got and that really helps strengthen us as a program.”

According to NSPA associate director and contest coordinator Gary Lungdren, the selection was based on far more than the technical aspect of broadcast.

“The winning entries stood out for not just their technical quality, but in the stories being covered,” Lundgren said in an NSPA news release. “The writing, editing, hosting and the willingness to tackle relevant topics make these exceptional newscasts from start to finish.”

Murphy thinks daily reporting and striving to cover and represent the whole school sets WTV’s reporting process apart from other programs.

“I think the way Wingspan reports, like not only do we do daily broadcast updates, where some schools will do weekly or monthly, we produce quality stories, like we do special issue stories where we really try to focus on certain things on campus, we celebrate accomplishments of all our students on campus, and teachers too,” Murphy said. “I think we really just highlight parts of school that not a lot of other schools highlight.”

The Pacemaker also recognizes how student journalists were able to overcome communication challenges during the pandemic.

“The pandemic posed a lot of challenges for student journalists especially at schools where many students were not on campus,” Lundgren said in an NSPA news release. “The high-quality journalism these news shows provided, against all odds, is remarkable.” 

Despite the split between in-person and virtual students, WTV was able to find a routine and system to overcome these challenges.

“We just had to really work on communication and collaboration more so than ever before,” Higgins said. “But having half our students at home is never an easy thing, but I give a lot of credit to the producers for taking on that challenge and not letting it be an excuse to not meet expectations.”