Many members of The Oracle staff have been recognized on many different levels this year for several award-winning stories.
The PA Press Club hosts a state-wide high school Journalism contest sponsored by the National Federation of Press Women, recognizing high school journalism all around Pennsylvania.
In the Environmental category, senior Julia Barbati and junior Danielle Berdik took 1st place with their story, “Sustainability class helps preserve another green space“.
By taking first place on the state level, they were automatically entered in the national contest where their story was recognized with an Honorable Mention award.

In the Sports category, 2022 graduate Dominic DiTommaso was awarded second place in the PA Press Club competition for his feature story on the 1980 Shaler Area baseball team, “1980 baseball — the greatest Shaler Area team“.

Best of School Newspapers Online (SNO), an organization in which 529 high school and colleges participate, recognizes the best stories published on their site. This school year, nearly 14,000 stories have been submitted and only 12 percent of those stories were recognized as Best of SNO stories. Best of SNO recognized seniors Andrew Deal, Julia Barbati, and Kamaria Mutadabur for their work.

Deal’s story about Pittsburgh Pirates Neil Walker and David Bednar “Walker and Bednar linked by more than WPIAL roots” was published to the Best of SNO website on May 4. Mutadabur’s story, “Shaler Adaptive Aquatics provides special program for those with special needs” was published on January 19. Barbati and Mutadabur were recognized in May for their story on Tribune Review court reporter Paula Reed Ward “Journalist shares her passion for journalism”.

Additionally, Shaler Area is a member of the Digital Media Arts Consortium (DMAC), a high school media group hosted by Robert Morris University, that hosts an annual spring high school media contest.
The Oracle staff member Matt Purucker won 1st place (Best in Category) for his story on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “US Holocaust Memorial Museum has a lasting impact of its visitors”

Some of judges commented, “The quotes and descriptions of the space transport readers both to the museum and back to a horrible period of time…Your depth of reporting on the museum, the Holocaust and the people on the trip was great. The direct quotes were the best part.”

Barbati and Berdik were given an Award of Excellence at the DMAC competition for their Sustainability story and Mutadabur also won an Award of Excellence for her Adaptive Aquatics story.