Robbins is HS Journalist

Robbins is MDDC 2000/2001 H.S. Journalist

     Melissa Robbins, a senior at Walt Whitman High School and managing editor of the school newspaper, the Black & White, was selected to receive the High School Journalist of the Year Award from the Maryland-Delaware-District of Columbia Press Foundation.
     Robbins was chosen from a record number of highly qualified high school journalists from Maryland, Delaware and the District who participated in the most competitive contest to date.
     "She rose to the top of a strong field of applicants by demonstrating a rare degree of reporting and writing abilities," said MDDC Journalism Education Committee Chair Tom Linthicum, who headed the panel of judges that selected Robbins.
     Before becoming managing editor of the Black & White this year, Robbins served as in-depth editor and reporter since joining the staff in 1998. Her stories for the newspaper have covered such subjects as teenage suicide, sexual harassment, and the effects of school violence.
     "Not only has her work been published in The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun, but her stories in her high school paper are insightful and confront compelling issues seldom addressed at that level," added Linthicum, a former editor who is currently director of employment and organization development at The Baltimore Sun.
     The award includes a $1,500 cash prize and will be presented Feb. 23 at the MDDC Press Association’s annual Awards Luncheon in Frederick. The contest is sponsored by the MDDC Press Foundation which works to enhance newspaper journalism in the region and encourage students to pursue careers in journalism.