<p>I attended the National High School Journalism Convention, where this year's issues of our newspaper were judged in a Best in Show category. For each media platform (newspaper under 17 pages, above 17 pages, broadcast, magazine, etc) 10 are recognized in this national competition. My newspaper placed in the top 3 nationally. The judging was based on our first two issues, which I have served as editor-in-chief for and have put in an incredible amount of time.</p>
<p>Is this something I should update Harvard about? I understand it's not a personal award, but as editor I oversee the entire paper. And we haven't won national awards like this in years, though Harvard won't know that. </p>
<p>If i do update via the portal (which allows for files to be uploaded regarding awards and certificates), how do I present this? Do I just upload a word doc stating this? Or should I take a picture of the certificate in my classroom and send that?</p>
<p>If it’s a national award, yes it warrants an update. Your update might have more impact if your faculty newspaper advisor writes you a short update letter on school stationary and faxes it to Admissions.</p>
<p>@gibby I also just found out an hour ago that a piece I wrote in a contest (again national) won an honorable mention. I think your idea is great ( that she should fax both of these awards on.) thank you!</p>
<p>Does admissions commonly accept faxed information? I know they don’t accept emails, but I couldn’t tell if they prefer uploading things via the portal. </p>
<p>Edit: dumb question, but what do you mean by school stationary? She’s the type to just write it out on a word doc, sign her name, print and fax it. She also was one of my two teacher recs.</p>
<p>^^ Up until a few years ago, you could only snail mail or fax Admissions updates, as the fileroom did not open email attachments, and you could not upload documents to the portal. Faxes spewing out of a fax machine demand immediate attention, otherwise paper starts to pile up – so, IMHO it’s the quickest way for an update to be read (whereas it could take weeks for someone to actually read an upload or an email). And FWIW: Admissions still requires specific documents, such as a Sibling Enrollment form to be faxed to them from the sibling’s college.</p>
<p>Every school has official stationary, usually principals and teachers have access to it, but students do not. LoR’s and updates from teachers/advisors should be on official school stationary, otherwise Admissions might think the applicant wrote the letter themselves. Many high schools have electronic letterheads that are basically word doc stationary templates. </p>
<p>@gibby I have something that didn’t receive a certificate or anything like that, but it’s a huge accomplishment. Should I upload it to the portal because I don’t see how I can fax it?</p>
<p>Edit: I planned on uploading a word document containing the details to the portal unless you have another suggestion? </p>
<p>A “huge” accomplishment can mean different things to different people. Unless your accomplishment is a NATIONAL or INTERNATIONAL award, I wouldn’t bother updating. (IMHO, updating Admissions on State or local awards will not tip the scales in your favor, and might actually weaken your application as other students will be updating with more prestigious accomplishments, such as being an Intel finalist, playing at Carnegie Hall, etc.)</p>
<p>Melissa, I don’t have an answer for you, but congratulations!!! That’s amazing! I’m bummed because our school paper attended the convention earlier this year and we were thinking about going to this one, too, but we didn’t end up attending–I wish we could have met up! </p>
<p>I hope your advisor will write a letter of commendation to you pointing out the context of the first time in 10 years; the executive editor impact you have, etc.</p>
<p>I have a difference of opinion here, in that I think the more dialog, the better. I think it is an error to judge too carefully the significance of an award. Expressing continued interest through updates is fine. You are lucky if they are Carnegie Hall or IMO; but any interaction is a good thing. If it is TMI, they can ignore it.</p>
<p>@calliemoon11 Thank you! But aww that sucks Luckily my school is minutes from the convention, so we just took a class field trip. We definitely wouldn’t have gone if we were traveling cross country!</p>
<p>@ItsJustSchool Thanks for your insight. I ended up updating the portal with a simple word doc stating the awards, and i plan on having my adviser fax an update letter to admissions. I’ll sadly have to wait till next week though since she has been incredibly stressed planning our annual fundraiser. </p>
Luckily my school is minutes from the convention, so we just took a class field trip. We definitely wouldn’t have gone if we were traveling cross country!</p>