Members of Lynbrook High School’s Horizon, the school’s newspaper, recently received high accolades in the 2019 New York Press Association Better Newspaper Contest. With the guidance of advisor Jessica Sanders, this was the first year that Horizon participated in the competition. 

Horizon received first place for Best Website. The judges praised the Horizon staff, calling its website “very well constructed” with a “clean design and consistent use of fonts and text blocks.” The Horizon staff launched the site in 2017 to showcase their stories online. 

In addition, four Horizon members, including two from the Lynbrook High School Class of 2019, received individual awards for their outstanding work in different categories of the contest. 2019 graduate Ela Ratkiewicz earned first place in the Best Use of Social Media category for her piece “You’re Invited, Billy Joel.” Here, she spotlighted chorus teacher Barry Wyner’s connection to the singer-songwriter and created a YouTube video inviting Joel to the school’s annual Spring Gala of the Arts. She was not the only Horizon member to be recognized for social media. Fellow 2019 graduate Harrison Simon received second place in the Best Use of Social Media category for “Owls Avenge Sole Loss in Thriller over VS South.” The basketball story featured interview clips which were posted to YouTube. This same story also earned Harrison the honorable mention award in the Best Sports Story category of the competition. 

Lynbrook High School senior Jane Hoeflinger took home third place in the Best News Story category for her piece, “Michael Frank: A True Hero.” In her story, Jane highlighted a Lynbrook High School student who jumped into action during the school year to help save a man’s life. Horizon member Julia Swerdin, a sophomore, also received third place in the Best Feature Story category for her profile on a Holocaust survivor entitled, “The Story of Holocaust Survivor Irving Roth.” 

Congratulations to the Horizon staff on these great achievements!