The journalism staff won a total of five awards at the Texas Association of Journalism Convention Oct.  21.

The TAJE convention in San Antonio, Texas took place the weekend of Oct. 19-21. Seven students of the journalism staff attended. Randall won third place in best of show for the yearbook and honorable mention (third place) for The Silver Streak online newspaper.

“(Winning) makes me want to prove that we deserve it,” co- editor of the Silver Streak Shea Johnson said. “It makes me look forward to the next year and a half I have left on staff.”

Not only did Randall staff win for their overall newspaper and yearbook but they also had three students win individual awards. Shea Johnson, Maddie Mayfield and Jaci Monroe won awards for on-site competitions. Maddie Mayfield won honorable mention in the advertising competition, Jaci Monroe won excellence in feature writing and Shea Johnson won honorable mention in sports writing.

“It was a big accomplishment,” Johnson said. “(Sports) is my favorite thing to write about and getting recognized made all the work worth it.”

During the convention students also attended workshops. There were classes about advertising, photojournalism, broadcast journalism and print media.

“I learned how to get different angles on the same old stories in the yearbook,” senior Chelsea Yohn said. “And I acquired new techniques on how to interview.”

At the end of the convention, keynote speaker, Ben Montgomery, talked with students about his career, a Pulitzer Prize nominated story and his journey as a journalist for the Tampa Bay Times.

“(He) was inspiring,” Yohn said. “He talked about how to be brave in journalism and not be afraid to get the story.”