Sitting in the front row of the Seattle Convention Center, senior and former El Estoque Editor-in-Chief Alan Tai felt a tightness ripple through him from his head to his toes. He had received various compliments and criticisms on his journalistic portfolio for weeks, but that was the day that he found out if his work would be enough to win National Journalist of the Year. As the presenter began, Alan quickly recognized the description of the winner; it was a sentence straight from his portfolio. He covered his face in shock as Journalism adviser Julia Satterthwaite, familiarly referred to as JSatt, leaned over to embrace him.
Alan won the award on Sunday, April 27, during the annual joint National Student Press Association and Journalism Education Association convention in Seattle. Alan is the second winner from MVHS and the seventh winner from California overall. Before winning the national competition, Alan won the title of California Journalist of the Year on Feb. 13. The competition evaluated nine categories relating to journalism, including reporting and writing, editing, leadership and team building, as well as a personal narrative.
“It was certainly unexpected,” Alan said. “It was pure joy. I was happy for not only myself, but for JSatt as well for my fellow Editors-in-Chief, for the entire staff that really helped to uplift me and get me to this moment. It was something out of a movie. It was something that I always imagined myself going through, possibly in a dream, but never in reality.”
Alan believes his time as a journalist has allowed him to open up to other people. Learning to interview people and leading El Estoque has made Alan more outgoing than his shy freshman self. Satterthwaite says that when Alan was a freshman in her Writing for Publication class, he was timid and she didn’t necessarily expect him to become an editor. Today, she considers Alan one of the strongest leaders in El Estoque.
“The thing that stands out to me the most about Alan is the way that he does so many things behind the scenes that need doing, without being asked and without expecting praise or credit for doing them,” Satterthwaite said. “It can be the big things, but little things too, like taking the Lost and Found clothing items from A111 to the office because he just cares about this space. I feel like that’s just something that he’s really excelled in, figuring out ways to make things just a little bit better.”
Alan accompanied Satterthwaite, his mother and various Palo Alto High School publications to the JEA convention. Alan’s mother, Shuchen Tai, expressed her anticipation for the ceremony, as she knew firsthand the passion and effort that Alan has poured into the publication for the past few years. For her, with or without the award, Alan’s contributions to El Estoque were worthy of recognition.
“I knew everybody was very nervous and didn’t know if he would win or not, but I felt calm,” Shuchen said. “I already told him, ‘You already are a California winner. We are so proud of you, so don’t worry. Whatever you are, winner or not, you still continue to pursue your love of journalism at Northwestern University and beyond.’”
Alan also represented El Estoque at the convention, where it won the Online Pacemaker Award, first place in Newsmagazine Best of Show, the Innovation Pacemaker, and seventh in Online Best of Show. These awards are judged against publications from around the country on whether they set the standard for a high quality program, based on factors including presentation, quality of reporting and design. It was initially Alan’s idea to apply for the Innovation Pacemaker, marking the first time El Estoque has done so.
“I was shocked and surprised and excited in equal measure to win the Innovation Pacemaker, because when you do something new for the first time, you don’t really know how you stack up against others,” Satterthwaite said. “Alan has set the bar really high for next year’s leadership team to continue the level of innovation that we’ve had this year.”
Alan echoes Satterthwaite’s sentiment, attributing his win to the innovative environment he has modeled for the rest of the staff. Beyond just the Innovation Pacemaker, Alan has introduced the back-page crossword to the magazine, led a website and logo redesign and reworked the staff editorial to be a more class-wide discussion. Going forward, he hopes that future staff will continue his efforts of pursuing unique methods for improving and evolving the publication.
“I really hope that in future years, El Estoque continues to build community and a culture of innovation,” Alan said. “As an Editor-in-chief this year, that’s what I’ve tried to instill in everyone around me: going out of your way to find and tell the stories that matter. That’s how you push the publication forward and make a better scholastic journalism environment for everyone.”
