The Stillwater Area High School student newspaper had a strong showing at the Spring 2014 National High School Journalism Convention, placing eighth in the Best in Show newspaper competition and picking up six individual honors.

It was the third time The Pony Express has placed in the national student journalism competition, sponsored by the National Scholastic Press Association, said Rachel Steil, an English teacher at the high school and the paper's faculty advisor.

"I think ranking in Best in Show, as well as receiving six individual awards, really demonstrates the excellence and strength of the Stillwater high school newspaper program," Steil said Thursday.

Stillwater was the only non-West Coast school to place in the Top Ten of the broadsheet 9-12 page category.

In addition to earning honorable mention in the "Graphic Design: Logo" category, senior Paul Hudachek was honored as the Minnesota State Journalist of the Year, school officials said. Also recognized were seniors Sydney Spreck (Superior for News Writing), Lucien Lemanski (Honorable Mention for Feature Writing), Anna Kaul (Honorable Mention for Commentary Writing) Olivia Novotny (Honorable Mention for Graphic Design: Infographics), and Eric Bromback (Excellent for On Air Reporting). Nearly 11,000 student journalists from across the country competed in the individual competition, Steil said.