The Pirates’ Hook wins Tar Heel Award

The Pirates’ Hook was named an “All North Carolina” newsmagazine for the third consecutive year in the North Carolina Scholastic Media Association’s (NCSMA) annual student media contest.

All North Carolina publications “demonstrate excellence in all areas of journalism, combining effective writing and design with broad and diverse coverage,” according to the NCSMA’s website.

The Hook’s website also won a Tar Heel Award in the online news division. The Tar Heel is the NCSMA’s highest honor, “awarded to select student media from the All-North Carolina class.”

It’s the first time The Hook’s website has won the award. The student newspaper last won a Tar Heel in 2011.

Riverside also won multiple individual awards.

Senior Elena Paces-Wiles was named North Carolina’s Journalist of the year, the NCSMA’s highest individual honor.Paces-Wiles received a $3,000 scholarship and represented the state in the National High School Journalist of the Year scholarship competition. Her portfolio featured investigative work focused on exposing inequities, including housing insecurity, abortion access and a lack of diversity in AP classes.

Newspaper adviser Bryan Christopher also won the Kay Phillips Distinguished Service Award for his contributions to scholastic journalism in North Carolina.

Additionally, 15 Hook students won awards for content published during the 2023-24 school year. The awards were announced during the North Carolina Scholastic Media Institute, a 3-day summer camp for high school journalists in June at UNC-Chapel Hill. Full contest results are available at the North Carolina Scholastic Media Association’s website.

First place