Perfection.

Manhattan High’s weekly newspaper, “The Mentor,” came one step closer to this seemingly unreachable goal by earning the National Scholastic Press Association’s All-American recognition for the 2015-2016 school year, placing the publication in the top five percent of student publications in the nation, according to NSPA Executive Director Laura Widmer.

The staff found out about the award last week, following the announcement last spring that The Mentor had achieved All-Kansas recognition from the Kansas Scholastic Press Association.

Nation-wide student publications staffs can become NSPA members and submit six issues of their publications for critiques and the possibility of receiving an All-American or state distinction.

The feedback from the critiques centers around four main categories: coverage and content, text, visuals and presentation, which are assessed with a points system. “The Mentor” garnered 455 out of 500 possible points and four marks of distinction, granting them eligibility for the All-American award for the first time in the history of the newspaper.

“You’re evaluated compared to what the perfect newspaper would look like,” “The Mentor” adviser Kristy Nyp said. “If you fall in the top category compared to that perfection it doesn’t just mean you’re better than some, it means you are in the top-ranked [newspapers] and you are doing what you are supposed to be doing as a publication.”

Last year was the first year “The Mentor” submitted a publication for this critique so to get the All-American and All-Kansas distinction is something to be very proud of. “The Mentor” publishes their newspaper once a week, which helps writers and editors gain valuable experience many schools do not get. Nyp believes this is a main contributing factor to the quick success.

“To get the All-Kansas award the first time we applied,” Nyp said, “I think says something about the quality of work that the student writers do here and part of that is because we’re weekly so we get to practice more than publications that only publish once a month.”  

For Nyp, who has been working with MHS student publications since 2011, winning this award was a long-time goal.

“I thought [getting All-Kansas] was pretty significant,” Nyp said. “It has been a goal of mine for a very long time for our publication. When I submitted the [NSPA] critique I didn’t necessarily think we would get an award from it, I just thought it would be valuable feedback and we could set that as a goal. It says something about the quality of work we do here.”

Nyp said the feedback from the critique is helpful in guiding where the publication can improve, and it informs her teaching in MHS’s journalism classes. The NSPA judges, who are professionally associated with the various branches of journalism, provided suggestions for development along with the critique. Nyp said that the focus for “The Mentor” will be on the development of the text aspect of the publication, which was an important topic addressed by the board of judges.

“The critique gives us valuable feedback, that tells us where we need to improve,” Nyp said. “I think last year was certainly our best year since I’ve been here and we’ve really tried to make the design better and quality of the writing better.”

Current students who were also on last year’s award-winning staff concur about the value of the critique.

“It points out things you don’t normally think about,” Trending page editor Savannah Cherms, junior, said.

“Seeing all the good feedback from the visual presentation of the paper itself makes me want to step up how, at least the front page looks this year,” print editor-in-chief of “The Mentor” Angie Moss, senior, said. “It makes me want to make everything look 10 times better this year.”

Additionally, Nyp and her staff hope that receiving All-American recognition will help establish the rising standards of the MHS student publications, especially for future staff members.

“I want people [to join staff] who want to work…I hope that will come across,” Nyp said.

“We got [All-American] last year,” Moss said. “There is no reason we can’t get it again this year.”

This All-American critique is just the first of many to come. New students are encouraged to join publications and create consecutive great years for “The Mentor.”

“The next award up is the Pacemaker Award, which is ‘the best of the best,’” Nyp said. “We only just won All-American, so I don’t expect to win Pacemaker anytime soon, but we will continue to enter our publication for critiques and improve what we can to eventually reach Pacemaker status.”

The Mentor content is available on their website www.mhsmentor.com, or visit them in room C107 at MHS West Campus.

This press release is prepared by the following staff members:

Mira Bhandari, copy editor

Meredith Comas, staff writer

John Ostermann, online editor-in-chief

Michael Simmons, staff writer

Nina Kumle, staff writer

Hailey Eilert, staff photographer