NCSMA names Sircey N.C. high school journalist of the year

The N.C. Scholastic Media Association (NCSMA), based in the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, has named Charles D. Owen High School journalist Janie Sircey the 2010 Rachel Rivers-Coffey North Carolina High School Journalist of the Year. Sircey serves as editor of her high school newspaper, The Hoofbeat, in Black Mountain, N.C.

Alternates are Catherine E. "Katie" King of West Henderson High in Hendersonville, N.C., and Elizabeth "Liz" Crampton of Northwest Guilford High in Greensboro, N.C.

Since 2001 the North Carolina Press Foundation (NCPF) has funded the annual scholarship award in honor of Rachel Rivers-Coffey, journalist and former N.C. Press Association president. NCPF will award a $2,000 scholarship to Sircey. The two alternates will each receive $500. The foundation will also award the winners' journalism programs. The journalist of the year’s program will receive $500. The two alternates’ programs will each receive $250.

Sircey will now represent the state in the National High School Journalist of the Year scholarship competition. Winners will be announced April 17 at the National High School Journalism Convention in Anaheim, Calif.

The Rivers-Coffey state scholarships will be awarded June 16 at UNC-Chapel Hill during the N.C. Scholastic Media Institute, a summer journalism workshop open to students and teachers across the state.