The Urban Legend staff won 21 awards on May 12 at the awards ceremony for the California Press Woman’s annual High School Communications Contest, held at the University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.

The event started with a presentation by author and acclaimed journalist Thomas Peele. Some of the Legend staff, along with students from Palo Alto High School, Jefferson High School in Daly City, Convent of the Sacred Heart High School in San Francisco and many others, patiently listened and applauded to the 109 award announcements, as presented by Betty Packard, CPW executive director.

Beatrice Motamedi, the Urban School Journalism adviser said: “I am very proud of the Yetis for their work and for holding their own in a competitive contest that often sees very strong work from schools with much larger programs.

“The fact that Urban can produce such good young journalists is really a testament to Urban’s emphasis on innovation and initiative, and the rigorous work that students do across the curriculum,” she continued.

The Legend took home three first place awards: Marie Bergsund (‘16) received first in cartooning, Tessa Petrich (‘14) in double truck layout, and Griffin Bianchi (‘16) in sportswriting. The winners of these three awards will all be advancing to the national competition in Washington, D.C. this July.