Alan Tai of Monta Vista High School in Cupertino is the California Journalist of the Year. Tai will move on as the official California entry for National Journalist of the Year which will be announced at the JEA/NSPA National High School Spring Convention in Seattle.
El Estoque and elestoque.org, the publications on which Tai works, are co-advised by Julia Satterthwaite, MJE and Vennessa Nava. Satterthwaite was named the National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year last week.
Tai is also the winner of the of the Arnetta Garcin Memorial Scholarship, a JEANC prize awarded to the top three NorCal winners of the state JOY competition, and whose advisers are JEANC members. The scholarship gives $1000 to the first-place winner.
The following students are the runners-up to the California JOY:
- Second Place: Isabella Kim from Los Alamitos High School in Los Alamitos. Her adviser is Lori Franzen.
- Third Place: Holden Leefrom Palo Alto High School in Palo Alto. He is also the Arnetta Garcin Memorial Scholarship second place winner and will receive $600. His adviser is Rod Satterthwaite, MJE.
- Fourth Place: Daniel Ruiz from San Diego High School in San Diego. His adviser is Rahel Gottlieb.
- Fifth Place: Grace Gehrman from Redwood High School in Larkspur. She is also the Arnetta Garcin Memorial Scholarship third place winner and will receive $400.Her adviser is Erin Schneider, MJE.
A panel of three out-of-state judges read and ranked the six submitted portfolios from California. They were:
- Lori Keekley, MJE, NSPA and 2016 National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year,
- Lori Oglesbee, 2009 H. L. Hall National Yearbook Adviser of the Year and
- Monica Hill, Director, North Carolina Scholastic Media Association.
Portfolios for the 2026 competition are due in February of next year. More information is available on the JEANC website.
