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Senior Morgan Said was named Missouri Student Journalist of the Year 2011, Monday, March 21.  Said found out about the award at a surprise announcement in front of her classmates and family. It will be formally presented at an awards ceremony sponsored by the Missouri Interscholastic Press Association at the University of Missouri April 5.

Said is editor-in-chief of the Dart newspaper and online news site DartNewsOnline.  In summer of 2010, Said helped start DartNewsOnline which won a Pacemaker award from the National Scholastic Press Assocation, placing the website in the top 20 student news websites in the nation.

Her newspaper adviser Eric Thomas wrote in a letter of nomination, “In my nine years of teaching at St. Teresa’s, after teaching hundreds of students, after dozens of yearbook and newspaper editors-in-chief, I have never been more proud of a student than I am of Morgan Said. When challenged, she directs her energy into the soul of the publication: helping others. When others might wilt from both exhaustion and frustration, Morgan keeps creating excellence for her staff.”

During her three years of working on staff, Said has won staff, regional and state awards for individual work in photography, video and writing. In summer 2010, Said won an award at the Ball State Summer Journalism Workshops for leadership. She also writes “300 words,” a series of profiles of St. Teresa’s personalities and their defining moments for the Dart.

In winning this award, Said’s entry will advance to the judging for National Journalist of the Year. The announcement of that award, and the accompanying $5,000 possible scholarship, occurs at the NSPA/JEA Convention in Anaheim, California April 16. Said plans to major in strategic communications at the University of Kansas.