For any athlete, the biggest individual honor that can be bestowed upon the conclusion of a season is to be named to an all-state roster in his or her sport.
However, that honor also exists for other activities sanctioned by UIL, the organization that governs high-school athletics across the state of Texas.
Last month, Shadow Creek High School Junior Kavya Nandagiri was named to the 2023 UIL All-State Journalism Staff.
In order to qualify, students were required to collect 50 points over the course of the school year by participating in UIL invitational contests in addition to district, regional and state events, as well as Interscholastic League Press Conference and other similar events.
According to Shadow Creek High School journalism coach Cindy Gonzales, achieving this status is no small task. Only 168 students in the state of Texas were named to the staff.
“Being named to the All-State Staff is an incredible achievement for any journalism student,” said Gonzales. “It takes a lot of work and determination to be named to this elite group.”
The UIL sponsors five journalism contests — news writing, feature writing, editorial writing, headline writing and copy editing. Students compete at the district level, and then the top three places advance to regionals. From regionals, the top three places advance to state competition.
In May, Nandagiri took first place in editorial writing at the 2023 UIL Academics State Meet in journalism (6A). In addition, she earned the Tops in Texas award in editorial writing. The UIL judges award this recognition to one of the six first place winners for the 1A-6A conferences for each of the journalism contests.
“Being a part of the All-State Journalism team feels so rewarding,” Nandagiri said. “Being able to use my skills to compete and win is one of the highlights of my year.”
