Octagon wins CSPA Silver Crown, CNPA and Quill and Scroll awards

Katie Espinoza May 22, 2021

The Octagon won awards from the 2021 Quill and Scroll International Writing, Photo and Multimedia Contest, the 2021 Columbia Scholastic Press Association competition, the Student Voice Awards and the California News Publishers Association.

The Octagon won a Silver Crown Award for high school hybrid news from the CSPA.

The Octagon also received a $100 Amazon gift card for winning first place in the Student Voice Awards. The award was from the News Reporting category for “Zoom-bomber found; apologizes for previous attacks on Country Day morning, class meetings” by juniors Arijit Trivedi and Ethan Monasa.

From the CNPA’s high school category, the Octagon won 15 awards.

CNPA Awards

Online General Excellence: First place online Editors-in-Chief juniors Ethan Monasa, Arijit Trivedi and Head of Technology Nihal Gulati
General Excellence (Print Edition): Third place for The Octagon Volume 44 Issues 2 and 3
Profile Story: First place “Award-winning pianist plays at Carnegie Hall, performs with Country” by alumna Heloise Shep, ’20
Profile Story: Second place “Senior on music: ‘I definitely want to keep playing for as long as I can.’” by junior Arikta Trivedi
Profile Story: Third place “Senior swimmer commits to Division I university” by Arijit Trivedi
Feature Photo: First place “COVID-19 Graduation” by Arikta Trivedi
Feature Photo: Second place “Folklorico Dancer” by alumna Emma Boersma, ’20
Feature Photo: Fifth place “Photo of Dylan Margolis with his video collection” by Boersma, ’20
Illustration: First place “Missed Opportunities During COVID-19” by sophomore Brynne Barnard-Bahn
Illustration: Second place “COVID-19 Blues” by former student Eric Lechpammer
Coverage of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Second place “Senior returns to her home in Netherlands, encounters its ‘intelligent’ lockdown” by Schep
Coverage of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Fourth place “COVID-19 pandemic takes major toll on parent health care workers” by alumna Larkin Barnard-Bahn, ’20
Writing: Third place “Thousands of lightning strikes spark hundreds of fires across California” by junior Arjin Claire
Enterprise News Series: Fourth place “Neighbors fight school expansion plan” by Gulati
Column Writing: Fifth place “MY ANGLE: Being stuck at home isn’t so bad; QUARANTINE CRASH COURSE: Sophomore spends week focused on photography” by Claire

From Quill and Scroll, Schep and Gulati both won third place for an informational graphic and editorial design, respectively.

Of Schep’s graphic, the judge said “Decision tree graphics can be fun and interesting but rarely are done well. The information is interesting and easy to follow. Very well done.”

The judge liked the simple layout and use of white space.

Honorable mentions were also won by Arijit Trivedi, Claire, Gulati and Larkin-Barnard-Bahn.