VIRGINIA — A student journalist who uncovered allegations of hazing in her high school’s football program received the Newseum’s annual Courage in Student Journalism Award today for her battle to publish an article about the incidents in the student newspaper.
Marina Hennessy, a junior at Avon High School in Avon, Ind., fought her principal’s attempts to censor the article and ultimately published it in the student newspaper, The Echo. (See Hazing in Winter 1999-2000 Report.)
The Newseum also presented a Courage in Student Journalism Award to Henry L. Caudle, the principal of Davenport Central High School in Davenport, Iowa, for his strong pro-student stance on the issue of Internet filters in schools.
The Courage in Student Journalism Awards are presented annually to student journalists who have demonstrated determination, despite obstacles, in exercising their First Amendment rights and to school administrators who have shown support, under difficult circumstances, for the First Amendment press rights of their schools’ student media.