On April 23, staff members of The Oracle, Gunn’s student newspaper, traveled to Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont to receive multiple awards in the Peninsula Press Club’s local high school newspaper competition.

Out of 12 high school publications, The Oracle won first place in the “General Excellence” category, an award recognizing the overall depth, range and content of the newspaper itself. “It’s nice to know that even though we have a smaller journalism program than some of the surrounding high schools, we are still a high-quality paper, and we were recognized for that,” senior Editor-in-Chief Caroline Hodge said.

Peninsula Press Club also recognized individual writers, awarding three The Oracle staffers in the News Story category. Senior News Editor Aurelle Amram and junior Managing Editor Tenny Zhang won first place in the News Story category for their co-written article revealing the experiences and problems faced by out of district students who illegally attend Gunn. “A couple of days after our [‘Out-of-district students’] story came out, NBC 11 broadcasted a story on the exact same topic,” Zhang said. “Aurelle and I like to secretly think that they copied the story from us.”

Zhang and junior photographer Sasha Guttentag received the second place award in the same category for their article titled “Friction arises at Paly game,” which covered the scandalous actions taken at the basketball game between cross-town rivals Palo Alto High School and Gunn, including cyberbullying through Facebook to interfere with a Paly athlete’s playing, and the making and distribution of shirts to insult Paly students.

To celebrate their victories, The Oracle staff had a congratulatory cake and mounted the plaque on the wall in the classroom where the staff meets “for everyone to see,” Hodge said.