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Dare County Schools has announced that First Flight High School seniors Emmy Benton and Taylor Newton received high honors in the annual North Carolina High School Journalist of the Year Contest hosted by the North Carolina Scholastic Media Association (NCSMA).

Senior publications students from across the state submitted their portfolios into the contest for review. Professional journalists and NCSMA members evaluated each student’s work and selected one winner and three alternates. Benton and Newton earned two out of the three alternate positions and were awarded with $1,000 scholarships from the NC Press Foundation.

“Benton and Newton are vital members of First Flight High School’s highly esteemed publications program taught by Dare County Schools 2021-2022 Teacher of the Year, Steve Hanf,” stated the DCS announcement. “Benton joined the publication’s program her sophomore year and currently leads the school’s newspaper, Nighthawk News Magazine, as an editor-in-chief. Newton joined the program his freshman year as a photographer and currently serves as the editor-in-chief of the school’s yearbook and photo editor for Nighthawk News Magazine.”

This is the seventh consecutive year that a FFHS publications student has either won or placed in the contest. A total of 15 seniors have earned placement in the statewide contest since the high school opened in 2004, noted the announcement.

NCSMA is a statewide organization that promotes the advancement of scholastic journalism and is a branch of the journalism program at the University of North Carolina Chapel-Hill. NCSMA hosts multiple contests and events throughout the year to recognize and mentor aspiring journalists.

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