On the 23rd of last month, the Michigan Press Association (MIPA) announced the results of their statewide contests. MIPA’s annual contests recognize students for their individual work and the collective work of their student media outlet.

The Central Trend staff members have been awarded a variety of awards for seventeen of their stories at the Spring Conference.

The Central Trend‘s advisor Ken George is proud of the fact that the staff’s hard work has been recognized.

“I think it’s awesome [that TCT received these awards] because I think we get caught up in the day-to-day pounding out stories and interviewing,” George said. “It’s just a lot of work, and I think this gives us an opportunity to pause a little bit and just celebrate our successes.”

The workload is a lot heavier this year with staff members writing two stories each week and co-Editor in Chief, junior Reena Mathews, sees how this has kept the staff more focused and on top of things.

“I think we work a lot harder than we have in past years because we have a new posting schedule,” Reena said, “and also we are pushing our writers to a new level.”

Through these weeks of writing features and reviews, the members of TCT have improved at their craft. This has come from a higher level of dedication, a more in-depth posting schedule, and an organized calendar to keep it all together.

The other co-editor in chief, senior Hannah Kos, sees that the staff’s dedication to posting twice a week has truly paid off.

“We have definitely seen our older writers grow,” Hannah said. “If you read their stuff from four years ago it’s pretty amazing to see how they’ve grown since then.”

George also recognizes that their quality of writing has increased because the staff has been taking a different approach to posting stories more often.

“The quantity of writing is certainly a product of our system,” George said, “but I think the quality of our writing and awards are a product of the immense talent that sits in that room.”

He believes they are successful because of the time the writers put in and their motivation for success.

“We just have some really gifted writers and thinkers and dedicated kids that do the best at what they do,” George said. “I think it’s a product of talent and perseverance and the belief that telling stories is important.”