Earlier this week, the Iowa High School Press Association (IHSPA) released the winners of its 2024 Spring Journalism Contest. Among the winners was Tai Caputo ‘25, an Opinion Editor and Feature Editor for The Little Hawk. Caputo is the 2024 recipient of both the Writer of the Year and Opinion Writer of the Year awards.

“I was very surprised and very happy,” said Caputo of her feelings when the contest results were released.

Heading into next year, Caputo hopes to focus on honing her in-depth feature writing skills.

“I’d like to really delve into in-depth feature. I think that feature’s interesting because it’s about people [but] it’s less time-based than news,” Caputo said.

As an upperclassman and editor for Little Hawk Journalism, Caputo encourages new journalists to read all types of journalism to find their interests.

“My advice is to expose yourself to lot’s of different kinds of journalism, both major publications such as the New York Times or even other high school newspapers, in order to become interested in journalism,” Caputo said of the advice she has for new high school journalists.