Libby Logger journalists collected 12 awards at a journalism conference Thursday at the University of Montana in Missoula for their work on the Tamarack, Libby High School’s student newspaper.

“I am very proud of the work my student journalists do,” advisor Sarah Barrick said via email. “To place in the top three in every event we entered in the contest speaks highly of the quality of work they are doing.”

The Tamarack staff, competing against other Class A schools, placed as follows: Newspaper Pacesetter (overall paper), third place; Newspaper Design, second place; News Writing, first place, Hunter Butler and Blake LaCoss; Feature Writing, first place, Sebo Sanders; Opinion Writing, first place, Gavin Strom; Sports Event Writing, first place, Alyssa Marshall; Infographic, first place, Ethan Neff and Keeley Holder; Feature Photography, first place, Landy Schikora; News Photography, second place, Matthew Agresta; Sports Photography, second place, Emily Carvey; Editorial Cartooning, second place, Ashley White and Aralyn Steele; and Advertising Design, second place, Falica DuBry.

The Tamarack’s coverage of the SK Fingerjoint fire in early November, the source of the publication’s news writing and news photography awards, was particularly noteworthy, Barrick wrote.

“Hunter and Blake did an excellent job of making a local news story relevant to high school students by interviewing children of those who worked at the fingerjointer and showing how the fire impacted not only employees but their families as well,” she wrote. “Matthew Agresta provided an on-the-spot photo that we ran with the article the Friday after the fire took place. With a monthly paper, sometimes it’s hard for high school journalists to provide really timely coverage, but these students did a great job of writing on deadline.”

Barrick also praised Sebo Sanders for “turning into a really great writer, using lots of voice in his feature writing to capture and keep the reader’s interest,” and shared a quote from the judges about Alyssa Marshall’s story on Logger golfer Ryggs Johnston’s championship and his team’s performance for the season:

“Nice use of quotes. The writer does a good job of hitting the most important element of the story, the repeat state championship, but then she also does a good roundup of the rest of the competition.”

Barrick said the judging panel comprised university staff and professional Missoula-area journalists.

“It was a quick trip, but very worthwhile,” Barrick wrote. “The kids learned a lot about the future of journalism, about legal matters surrounding journalism and about the programs offered at the U of M.”

Barrick also thanked Tamarack advertisers “who support the program and make it possible for our kids to put out a monthly paper,” and the GEAR UP and Graduation Matters programs for paying for the trip to the conference.