Darien's Stauffer Named CT Student Journalist of the Year

Submitted by the Journalism Education Association:

It is with great pleasure the Journalism Education Association names junior McKinley Stauffer the 2011 Connecticut Student Journalist of the Year.

McKinley, 16, was selected after a committee examined a portfolio of her work that demonstrated the hard work, creativity and tenacity that made McKinley a standout candidate for this statewide honor.

McKinley was selected for her excellent work in investigative journalism. McKinley won the Outstanding Investigative Reporting Award from the American Scholastic Press Association in 2010. The award was for her story, “Keep Trying” in which McKinley worked with the Darien police to investigate false tip line reports targeting junior and senior girls. 

She has also been nominated for two investigative awards for her story examining spice, a synthetic form of marijuana that had been legally available in Connecticut until December. The story was submitted to the American Scholastic Press Association and Connecticut Daily Newspaper Association.

McKinley is also on track to become an editor her senior year. She is working with current Neirad Editor-in-Chief Parker Lange on a leadership mentorship. Parker is training McKinley on strategies and techniques that will guide her work next year leading the print and online publications.

The Connecticut chapter of the Journalism Education Association is proud to put McKinley forward as the best the state can offer in scholastic journalism. The Journalism Education Association is an independent national scholastic journalism organization for teacher, students and advisers with more than 2,000 member educators nationwide.