From Oct. 15 through Oct. 18, eight members of Aledo Student Media went to San Antonio for the Fall Fiesta state convention. The event included contests Saturday, seminars Sunday and an award ceremony Monday.

Aledo students and publications won eight individual awards and three Best of Show awards for each of its publications.

In the Best of Show competitions,  Catalyst literary arts magazine won first place. Catalyst was produced for the first time last spring. Cat’s Eye news won honorable mention and the Ledoian yearbook won first place for 5A yearbooks.

The individual on-site photo competition was divided into five prompts, which included “Convention,” “Old,” Framing,” “Fall” and “Spice.”

In the prompt “Old,” Ava Bathurst and Alyssa Lively were awarded honorable mentions, and Kaley Schabel awarded superior. In the prompt “Framing,” Bathurst and Kaley Schabel won honorable mentions. In “Fall,” Bathurst was awarded superior, and in “Spice,” Elise Creed was awarded excellent. And finally, in the yearbook copy competition, Faith Emmitte won honorable mention.

The competitions for these awards took place Saturday. These were divided into two time frames, with some taking place from 2:15-2:30 p.m. and other from 3-5 p.m. Students who did not compete attended the intensive writing workshop, in which speakers Scott Winter and David Knight identified tools to help strengthen writing skills.

Additionally students attended a keynote presentation by Scott Pelley, former Managing Editor for CBS News. A correspondent for CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Pelley dedicated his speech to his experiences with the television broadcast and the role of journalism.

Sunday, students attended up to eight sessions with a schedule of their choice. Sessions ranged from Michael Reeves’ sports photography to Margaret Sorrows’ creative coverage–– all of which surrounded topics in news production, yearbook and/or photography.

Also during this time students participated in creating a journalism-themed TikTok competition to win a piñata for their program. Of this competition, Ava Bathurst and attending students collaborated to win the piñata.

Monday morning at 9 a.m. served as an award ceremony and closing for the event. Administrators announced prize drawings and giveaways, followed by award ceremonies for individual awards, Best of Show awards and sweepstakes.

“This was my first time ever doing something like this and I am so glad I chose to go,” said Elise Creed, a sophomore and member of the yearbook staff. “I learned so much about many aspects of journalism, and I hope I can go again sometime.”