Alefiyah Vahanvaty, a junior from Stroudsburg High School, recently won two prestigious journalism awards: the Tom Bigler Journalism Award and the Best of SNO (School Newspaper Organization) Award.

The Tom Bigler Journalism Conference took place on April 13, 2018 at Wilkes University. Journalism students from around the state were engaged in active discussion and dialogue about journalism related careers and quality journalism. At the end of the event, awards were given to high school students who have demonstrated journalism excellence. Vahanvaty was among those recipients. She won First Place for her feature story Sexual assault awareness: misconceptions, prevention, and support.

“I thought sexual assault was not a topic addressed at all in any high school newspapers, and it’s very tabooed in our society,” said Vahanvaty.

Vahanvaty also won an award from SNO (School Newspapers Organization). SNO provides affordable and professional WordPress websites for high schools and colleges. She won an award for her opinion piece entitled “Success For Life: Stroudsburg’s first customized, one on one, flexible GED program.”

Vahanvaty explained why she chose to dive into this topic. “I wanted to share my story on how I created a GED program, and hopefully I can inspire my fellow students to make a difference in our community and around the world,” said Vahanvaty.