Education reporter now at the Star wins national journalism award

Reporter Jessica Votipka, who covers K-12 education for the Arizona Daily Star, has won a national Journalism Education Association Friend of Scholastic Journalism Award.

The award recognizes a professional journalist, professional media outlet or other individual or group making a significant contribution to scholastic journalism.

Votipka was recognized for her work as an education reporter at The Independent in Grand Island, Nebraska. In 2022, she broke the story that Northwest High School cut its newspaper, The Viking Saga, after it published a Pride issue for the month of June. As a result, she won the Nebraska Press Association first-place prize in in-depth reporting.

“Because of Votipka’s reporting, I know student press freedom is something Nebraskans know more about,” said Kirsten Gilliland, adviser to The Viking Saga student newspaper.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Marcus Pennell, who was a student on the paper’s staff at the time of the censorship, said Votipka “has inspired me to follow in her footsteps as an exceptional journalist.”

Votipka and the five other Friends of Scholastic Journalism Award recipients this year were recognized last weekend at the Fall JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention in Boston.

Votipka joined the Arizona Daily Star newsroom in August. To send her news tips, email jvotipka@tucson.com.

Founded in 1924, JEA supports free and responsible scholastic journalism.