Submitted Photo The Fredonia High School "Spectator" staff received 48 awards from the Empire State School Press Association sponsored by Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications. “Spectator” staff (bottom row left to right): Gabe Persch, Sydney Swan, Caroline Cameron and Tyler Cain (top row left to right) Cam Forster and James Przybycien.

The Empire State School Press Association (ESSPA) presented 48 awards to the Fredonia High School newspaper, “The Spectator,” at their annual conference at Syracuse University in late October.

This includes 12 gold awards, a Gold All New York rating and the top award for service to school for issues published during the 2015-2016 school year. Ten New York school papers were rated as All NY Gold publications, and Fredonia’s paper also brought home more awards in various categories than any other school in the state for the second consecutive year.

“It is an honor to win any awards at ESSPA’s conference, but 48 is truly amazing. This was beyond our expectations, but more than 40 students worked on the paper, and their teamwork and high standards were obvious with each issue they created,” co-adviser Lisa Reinhardt said. She and Dadie Sedota are co-advisers of the award-winning paper.

“The Spectator” is published monthly in magazine format for students and can also be viewed online at the Fredonia High School website.

A gold plaque is given for the top award in the state in each category, while a silver is equivalent to a second place. A bronze award equals the third place ranking, while an honorable mention is awarded to work that is also commendable.

The editorial board of the paper included Margaret Militello, Kennedy Rosario, Evan McAfee, Kelsey Schmidt, Trystan Meyer, Lindsey Aldrich, Aurora Merwin, Sydney Swan, Emma Lilly, Averey Simmons, Jarod Burmaster, Gabe Persch, Maitland Langworthy, Dakota Gardner, Cameron Forster, Cassie Gilvin, Haley Zebraski, Taylor Britz, James Przybycien, Erin Bennett, Colton Haas and Lauren Millson.

The following awards were announced in Syracuse:

Gold

Service to School for series of articles about losing the school resource officer; Best All-Round Publication-staff award; Editorial Writing-Sydney Swan and editorial staff; Editorial Page-staff; Sports News-Kelsey Schmidt; Sports Photograph-Haley Zebraski; Sports Photograph-Lauren Millson; Editorial Cartoon (portfolio)-James Przybycien; Photographer (portfolio)-Evan McAfee; Picture story/layout-Evan McAfee; News Photograph-Cameron Forster; Front Page Design (portfolio)-Haley Zebraski and Cameron Forster.

Silver

Sports Photograph-Gabe Persch; Sports Photograph-Evan McAfee; Sports News-Averey Simmons; Photographer (portfolio)-Tiona Pittman; Review Writing-Brigham Pratt; Special Event Coverage-Dakota Gardner; In-Depth Coverage-Cassiah Gilvin; Front Page Design (portfolio)-Evan McAfee; Editorial Columnist (portfolio)-Nicholas Gloff; Editorial Columnist (portfolio)-Evan McAfee; Editorial Cartoon (portfolio)-Taylor Britz; Editorial Writing-Two awards to editorial staff.

Bronze

Sports Photograph-Gabe Persch; Sports Photograph-Margaret Militello; Sports News-Savannah Rivera; Sports News-Gabe Persch; Photographer (portfolio)-Cameron Forster; Picture Story-Cam Forster; Picture Story-Tiona Pittman; Photographer (portfolio)-Haley Zebraski; Sports Feature-Maitland Langworthy; Feature Writing-Liz Suski.

Honorable Mention

Sports Feature-Tiona Pittman; Sports Photograph-Dakota Gardner; Sports Photograph-Nate Ruhland; Sports News-Jarod Burmaster; Special Event Coverage-Lauren Millson; Photographer (portfolio)-Emma Lilly; News Story-Averey Simmons; In-Depth Coverage-Kennedy Rosario and Tyler Cain; Feature Writing-Lauren Arcoraci; Editorial Columnist-Emma Holm Schlemenowitz; Design (portfolio)-Colton Haas; Design Portfolio-Cassiah Gilvin.