Congratulations to Marina Qu, a senior at McLean High School, who was named the Virginia Student Journalist of the Year by the Virginia Association of Journalism Teachers and Advisers.

Qu is an editor-in-chief at the The Highlander, which is advised by Lindsay Benedict.

After earning recognition in Virginia, Qu’s portfolio will represent the state at the national student journalist of the year competition hosted by the Journalism Education Association.

In the Virginia competition, Pratika Katiyar earned second place. Katiyar is an editor-in-chief at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (Erinn Harris, adviser).

Holly Bill, editor-in-chief at Harrisonburg High School’s Newsstreak, earned third place in the state contest (Valerie Kibler, adviser).