For the second year in a row, the Eastside Panther of Eastside College Preparatory High School in East Palo Alto won first place in the General Excellence category of the Peninsula Press Club’s annual High School Journalism awards competition.

The awards were presented at a reception May 7 in Ralston Hall on the campus of Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont. The university joined the Press Club and Hillsdale Shopping Center as sponsors for the event.

This year 11 newspapers from 10 Peninsula high schools participated in the competition. For the first time ever, an underground newspaper, The Terra Nova Subterranean, entered. Every newspaper had a winner this year.

Here is a complete list of the 2002-03 High School Journalism Award winners:

General Excellence
First: Eastside Panther, Eastside College Prep
Second: The Friar, Serra High School
Third: The Stampede, Capuchino High School
Honorable Mention: Burlingame B, Burlingame High School

Layout & Design
First: Eastside Panther, Eastside Prep
Second: Serra Friar, Serra High School
Third: Burlingame ‘B’, Burlingame High School

Editorials
First place: Marissa McGee, Eastside Panther, Eastside Prep
Second: Darren Harper, The Stampede, Capuchino High School
Honorable mention: Alexis Salas, Tom-Tom, Jefferson High School, and Nils Palsson, The Subterranean, Terra Nova High School

Features
First place: Norma Jaimez, The Eastside Panther, Eastside Prep
Second: Rachel Zwass, Mills Thunderbolt, Mills High School
Third place: Alissa Marque, Burlingame B, Burlingame High School

News
First: Xyrus Timbol and Donald Gosha, Jefferson High School
Second: Kelley McCoy, The Stampede, Capuchino High School
Third: Joyce Lin, The Thunderbolt, Mills High School
Honorable mention: Rachel Rosenfelt, Burlingame B, Burlingame High School, and Luis Torres, Eastside Panther, Eastside Prep

Sports
First: Gary Hoem, Mills Thunderbolt, Mills High School
Second: Jessie Wei-Hsuan Ho, Aragon Aristocrat, Aragon High School
Third: Luis Torres, Eastside Panther, Eastside Prep
Honorable Mention: Liza Zenkin, Menlo Coat of Arms, Menlo School, and Carlo Morales, The Stampede, Capuchino High School

Sports Photo
First: Joanna Leon, Eastside Panther, Eastside Prep
Second: Kristen de la Rosa, The Roar, Terra Nova High School
Third: Joanna Leon, Eastside Panther, Eastside Prep
Honorable Mention: Mayra Contraras, Eastside Panther, Eastside Prep

News Photo
First: Laura Trevino, The Stampede, Capuchino High School