Martha Greco

Editor-in-Chief

“Recording live it’s R.J. Reynolds High.” This summer, RJR’s Radio 101 class swept the radio/podcast division of the 2023 North Carolina Scholastic Media Association Awards. 

   NCSMA is a statewide high school media competition in the categories of literary magazine, newspaper, yearbook, online news, broadcast news, and radio/podcast. To be considered for entry, high school media platforms must complete an application and submit their work from the year. For Radio 101 students, this included a complex project on prevailing teen issues. 

   “The topic I was assigned for my award-winning radio project was issues that are prevalent with teens and how they are facing these challenges,” sophomore Katy Cox said. “I chose to do my story about addiction and vaping because it is something that I feel has been normalized and kind of shoved under the rug.” 

   The process of creating these radio projects was not easy. Students had to identify important topics, find interviews in the community, and edit their final cuts. 

   “We had to pitch him [the teacher] our idea and then we had to find people to interview,” sophomore Genevieve Amigone said. “Then we would have our audio and write a script. After our script was approved, we were able to start clipping the pieces together and editing it.”

   For Amigone and her group, they related their project to RJR by interviewing experts as well as students.

   “My group did ours on sex ed in school,” Amigone said. “We talked to a student and they told us about their experience. Then we talked to an expert and one other person who’s influential in that area.”

   With their hard work and journalistic skills, Radio 101 earned the highest rating in their field. Additionally, they received first place in audio, editing, production, and feature story. 

    “Over the summer, we found out that we won the best feature story,” Amigone said. “So, that was exciting.”

   While the Radio 101 class has seen success in the awards category they also have acquired many skills beyond the microphone. 

   “I learned so much in that class, not only about radio but also got to look into and talk to experts about topics our generation is interested in,” Cox said. 

   Radio 101 has represented RJR well on the state level and the demon community cannot wait to see what they accomplish next.