In January, many awards rolled in for the arts, literature, and journalist side of BHS. The Pinnacle, the school’s art, and literary magazine won first place and recognition in multiple contests. Furthermore, the Crimson, the student-run newspaper also won awards, and the Bernardian, the school’s yearbook, won an overall first-place award.
The literary art and magazine, Pinnacle has won a First Class award in NCTE’s REALM contest and the American Scholastic Press Association’s First Place Award with a special category award for photography. The Pinnacle showcases the creative side of high school students at Bernards. Through submitting writing pieces like poetry, and short and long stories. 3D and 2D original artwork, photography, jewelry, woodworking, and more. The Pinnacle Staff is made up of 42 students with work starting in September, advertising for new staff positions, tweaking past processes of the magazine, and advertising for new submissions. Then in March work picks up as submissions are sorted, evaluated, and added to layouts in the magazine. The Pinnacle is broken up into multiple committees: Advertising, Finance, Editing, Layout, Contests, and Web. Every lunch committees meet and rotate to organize their plans for the final product. Joe Morandi ’25 won a special first-place category award for best photography. Joe’s photo captures the different hues of his former pet panther chameleon, Randal.
Mrs. Snyder, advisor of the Pinnacle, says the students part of the magazine are, “self-starters, incredibly organized, and so talented. I think this format allows staff members to streamline the work that they are responsible for and work in areas that they are especially talented.”
The magazine is not just for the students it is also for people to see the creative side at Bernards. This magazine has been running for over 15 years at Bernards and will continue to do so.
Fiona Vitali, Editor in Chief, for the Pinnacle states, “[She] is honored to have such a cooperative team and can only imagine how far [The Pinnacle] will go this year after these accomplishments!”
The Bernards High School, Bernardian, the school’s yearbook, has won first place for the American Scholastic Press Association, with a total of 900 points out of 1000. The Bernardian is an award-winning yearbook that has won first place for many years. The Crimson won second place with a total of 835 points out of 1000. These awards come with detailed feedback and a plaque.
In the fall, a group of Crimson students traveled to Rutgers University to attend GSSPA press day, Garden State Scholastic Press Association, with other schools’ student-run journalism programs. There, Ava Highland won an honorable mention for an on-the-spot writing contest. The Crimson continues to try to win an overall Best of SNO award, Student Newspapers Online, for journalism programs online. If the Crimson wins Best of SNO it will be one of the top Student Run Newspapers in New Jersey.
