Avon High School’s news website, AvonEcho.com, was recognized over the weekend as one of the top student publications in the country.

The award, an eighth-place “Best of Show” for large school news websites, was announced in Chicago at the NSPA/JEA National High School Journalism Convention, a conference attended by more than 5,000 students from across the country.

The recognition makes it two in a row for The Echo; last year the staff placed in the top 10 for its print publication.

The news website is managed by senior Dia Gill, the web editor-in-chief. Also responsible for the site’s success are managing editors junior Tara Martin and senior Brannigan Watson. The trio produces about half of the overall content for the site.

“Recently, we’ve covered many of the big school events that didn’t make it into the print edition because of timing issues,” Gill said. “There are stories on everything from the fall musical to athlete profiles. We also post regularly, typically publishing content two to three times a week.”

Other recent contributors to AvonEcho.com include seniors Nic Patterson, Brayden Cox and John Sand, junior Prabhvir Lakhan and sophomores Grace Hicks and Elijah Ybarra.

Avon was one of five Indiana high school newspaper staffs to win top-10 honors in various categories. Other winners were Carmel, North Central, Zionsville and Crown Point.

In addition to Avon’s group achievement, one staff member, junior Joseph Souza, left the convention with an individual award, earning “Superior” (first place) honors in an on-site news-writing competition.