News Staff Reporter
Tom Kaplan ’06 and Brian No ’06 were awarded honorable mention in page one design by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, for their respective work as Editor in Chief and News Editor of the 99th masthead of The News. Dean of Students John Ford presented the award to the two seniors during the April 26th school meeting.
According to Mr. Zachary Goodyear, adviser for The News, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, a national organization made up of many high schools, awards prizes and honorable mentions to school newspapers in thirty different categories including layout design, sports writing, and photography,. Tom Kaplan, Editor in Chief from Spring 2005 through Winter 2006, submitted The News to the association for awards in several of the possible categories.
Brian No and Tom Kaplan, along with photo editor Grace Kelly ’07, played integral roles in page one design. The first page of The News is part of the news section, and Brian, as News Editor, was essential in the design process. Brian explained that his role in page one design “was to find and prioritize the articles I had, and to somehow display on the first page a sense of urgency, while also making it aesthetically pleasing.”
Tom explained that page one design, though always begun by No, “was something I would always have a hand in, sort of refining what [Brian] came up with each week.”
Tom helped bring about an important change in how page one is presented. “Starting last winter under Vanessa Dube ’05 and the 98th Masthead, we began to revamp the look of the paper. The News had looked pretty much the same for about a decade, and we tried to modernize it quite a bit and give it a fresher look.”
Mr. Goodyear praised the new look of the paper. “It seemed to me to be very creative and exciting. Some of the graphics [Tom] and Grace Kelly have come up with have really been terrific, and Brian of course is in charge of whatever appears on the page. It has definitely been a joint effort.”
Mr. Goodyear, who has advised with The News for ten years, has only good things to say about the two editors. “They’ve worked as hard as any two students in those positions have. I think that they have been really exceptional News Editors and Editors In Chief. They’ve paid a lot of attention to issues at school. They’ve worked very, very hard, and made the paper better both in terms of design and copy substance...As a team, the whole masthead deserves a lot of credit because they worked very well together, and it has been a pleasure working with them.”
Both Brian and Tom each began writing for The News as reporters in the fall of their freshman year, working their way up to become editors. Tom was News Editor for the 98th masthead and Editor in Chief for the 99th, while Brian became News Editor for the 99th masthead.
Looking back, Brian explained that his time with The News was “extremely rewarding, extremely hard work. In the end, it was one of my most memorable experiences at Choate, because the people you meet, the issues you learn about, and at the end of the week, you have a very rewarding product to show to everyone else.”
Tom had similar sentiments about The News. “It was a great experience working with a lot of great people, and great friends. Journalism is something I now know I want to pursue into college and perhaps as a career. It was a very rewarding experience.”
“We also had the luxury of having great photographs week in, week out. Grace Kelly ’07, our photo editor, played an integral part in the design of page one as well as the rest of the newspaper, and that was very valuable,” added Tom.
Next year Tom will be attending Yale University and working for The Yale Daily News, while Brian will be attending Princeton University. Though he will continue to work for his college paper, Brian does not plan on pursuing a career in journalism. Grace Kelly will remain photo editor through her sixth form year.
