Katie Harrington is a newspaper stand-out

• Salt Lake Tribune
• May 21, 2009
• by Natalie Dicou
• Article link

Judge Memorial Catholic High School senior Katie Harrington has journalism in her bones.

The daughter Sharon Donovan and John Harrington -- an attorney and a local Emmy Award-winning journalist, respectively -- Katie has a desire to spread information about issues she cares about.

"I just think [journalism is] a good way to help people who don't have a strong voice," Katie said. "I feel like I can be a voice for them. Also, journalism is a really good way to spark change or spark a movement toward something."

The editor-in-chief of the Bulldog Press, Judge's student newspaper, Katie has won the Utah Press Association's Super Journalist award.

The Super Journalist recipient is "a fearless student who has demonstrated 'above and beyond' capabilities, and has gone the extra mile to get information and has written stories on issues of importance," according to the UPA.

Katie has penned many memorable stories during her three-year run with the Bulldog Press, including a column about her experience at President Barack Obama's acceptance speech in Chicago and stories about the dangers of text-messaging while driving and student hazing.

She has tracked down stories that her dad says many professional journalists wouldn't pursue.

High praise from John Harrington, who, at times, has been a tough critic of Katie's work.

As a freshman, Katie went to her father, asking advice on a story she'd written.

A former staffer at both the Ogden Standard-Examiner and ABC 4, Harrington tore it apart, brutally marking it up with a red pencil until it was unrecognizable.

"It was so marked up that she ran it through the paper shredder," said John Harrington. "I was really hard on her. I figured, 'what the hell? I might as well be hard on her now.'"

Afterward, Harrington showed his daughter how to fix the story.

"I wanted to be good to please my dad," said Katie, who instead of being discouraged by the experience, was excited about journalism.

"I thought I could be good at it," she said.

Katie transformed the shredded story into a piece of art that still hangs on a wall in the Harringtons' Salt Lake City home.

Aside from her parents, Katie's biggest influence is her journalism teacher Chris Sloan. The Bulldog Press advisor raved about his graduating editor-in-chief.

"I've been doing this for 25 years," Sloan said, "and she has a really sophisticated visual intelligence."

The Bulldog Press -- which won first place in newspapers in Class 1A-3A from the UPA -- is visually "stunning," Sloan said.

She's also a top-notch writer.

"I think she has a sense of what high school students want to read, but also what they should read," Sloan said. "

Katie will attend the University of Utah next year. Bad news for the Bulldog Press but perhaps it's good news for the Daily Utah Chronicle.