The MoCo Student would like to thank the entrants of our inaugural journalism contest. We are immensely impressed by the insights, research, and stories shared by our county’s youth. After several rounds of difficult decisions, we are excited to announce our winners:
Ian Chen of Richard Montgomery High School: “The 30 Year Reign of Laura Goetz,” with contributions by Anna Wu.
Mia Strollo of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School: “Waymo Has Its Sights Set on NYC. Will It Arrive Soon? It’s Complicated.”
The contest closed on August 21. Applicants were required to be residents of Montgomery County between 13 and 18 years of age, permitted to submit up to three entries. Entries were contributed either individually or by teams, and include previously published works.
Please note that any applications made with artificial intelligence have been automatically disqualified. We do not accept any use of artificial intelligence software to generate writing or digital graphics.
In addition to being published on the MoCo Student website, winners are featured on MoCo Student social media, receive feedback, and participate in a mentoring session from our judges.
Judges
Zoe Bell is a senior writer for Washington Jewish Week, where she’s in her third year covering local Jewish news, breaking news and news features in the D.C. metro area. She has received multiple awards for her reporting. Zoe graduated magna cum laude from American University with degrees in journalism and criminal justice, and served as the first DEI editor of AU’s student newspaper. An alumna of Quince Orchard High School, Zoe got her start interning for The MoCo Student.
Jordan Young is a digital producer at NBC4 Washington, where her reporting mostly focuses on disability and health policy in the D.C. area. She’s previously held positions at the CNN Political Unit and The Village Green, a New Jersey local news website. Jordan first got her start in student media, serving as opinions editor on her high school newspaper, The Columbian, and as news managing editor on American University’s newspaper, The Eagle.