Yearbook Awards

Best in Texas Awards 2025

The 2024-2025 high school yearbook staff won 28 awards in the Best in Texas Yearbook Contest against 1A-6A schools across the state in December. They competed in design, photography and writing categories and received Superior, Excellent and Honorable Mention awards. 

• Best of the Best 

  • 1st Runner Up Yearbook Portfolio - Lillian Perkins

• Superior 

  • Student Life Copy - Abby Nichols

  • Student Life Spread -  Michael Stephens

  • Sports Feature Photo - Rhastin Nelson

  • Story Portfolio - Lillian Perkins

• Excellent 

  • Student Life Copy - Lillian Perkins

  • Student-Designed Endsheets - Haileigh Garrett

  • Sports Action Photo - Lillian Perkins

  • Photo Portfolio - Cyrus Eaves

• Honorable Mention

  • Headline Writing - Rhastin Nelson and Abby Nichols

  • Academic Copy - Lillian Perkins

  • Club/Organizations Copy - Lillian Perkins (two awards)

  • Sports Copy - Lillian Perkins

  • Sports Copy - Rhastin Nelson

  • Opening/Closing - Haileigh Garrett

  • Student Life Spread - Lillian Perkins

  • Club/Organizations Spread - Madalyn Flores

  • Sidebar Presentation - Lillian Perkins

  • Alternative Copy - Lillian Perkins and JR Jackson

  • Human Interest Photo - Rhastin Nelson

  • Student Life Photo - Abby Nichols

  • Sports Action Photo - Abby Nichols

  • Sports Action Photo - Haileigh Garrett

  • Photo Portfolio - Abby Nichols

  • Photo Portfolio - Rhastin Nelson

  • Design Portfolio - Abby Nichols

  • Design Portfolio - Haileigh Garrett

Interscholastic League Press Conference (ILPC) Individual Achievement Awards  2025

Competing in design, photography and writing categories, the staff also won 43 ILPC Individual Achievement Awards against other 3A schools across the state. If any of the staff received a first place medal, their entries were judged against other 1A-6A first place entries for a chance to win a Tops in Texas award, and the staff won its first Tops in Texas award for headline writing. 

In another first for The Cardinal yearbook staff, senior Haileigh Garrett received the Bobby Hawthorne $1000 scholarship from the Texas Association of Journalism Educators. 

• Yearbook staff 

  • Headlines - Tops in Texas and 1st Place

• JR Jackson

  • Student Life Photo - 1st Place

  • Class Spread - 1st Place

  • Infographic - 1st Place

  • Personality Profile - 1st Place

  • Theme Development - 2nd Place

  • Portrait - 2nd Place

  • Photo Portfolio - 2nd Place

  • Feature Spread - 3rd Place

  • Class Spread - 3rd Place

  • Sports Action Photo - Honorable Mention

  • Academic Photo - Honorable Mention

• Haileigh Garrett

  • Student Life-Focused Spread - 1st Place

  • Sports-Focused Spread - 1st Place

  • Theme Development - 2nd Place

  • Student Life Feature - 2nd Place

  • Club/Organization Feature Story - 2nd Place

  • Student Life Feature - 3rd Place

• Abby Nichols

  • Academic-Focused Spread - 1st Place

  • Photo Portfolio - 1st Place

  • Club/Organization Photo - 3rd Place

  • Sports Action Photo - 3rd Place

  • Academic Photo - 3rd Place

  • Portrait - 3rd Place

• Rhastin Nelson

  • Feature Spread - 1st Place

  • Club/Organization Photo - 2nd Place

  • Academic-Focused Spread - 3rd Place

• Michael Stephens

  • Ad Design - 2nd Place

  • Sports Feature Photo - 2nd Place

  • Infographic - 3rd Place

• Lillian Perkins

  • Club/Organization Feature Story - 1st Place

  • Personality Profile - 2nd Place

  • Sports Feature Story - 2nd Place

  • Academic Feature Story - 3rd Place

• Cyrus Eaves 

  • Photo Portfolio - Honorable Mention

• Ezra Grubbs

  • Index Spread - 1st Place

  • Captions - 1st Place

  • Theme Development - 2nd Place

• Mune Nicholson

  • Club/Organization-Focused Spread - 1st Place

  • Academic Feature Story - 1st Place

  • Student Life-Focused Spread - 2nd Place

• Evan Brenner

  • Club/Organization-Focused Spread - 2nd Place

  • Sports-Focused Spread - 3rd Place

  • Sports Feature Photo - Honorable Mention

• Jordan Dollar & Aylin Rivera Vega

  • Sports Feature Story - 1st Place

Best in Texas Awards 2024

The 2023-2024 high school yearbook staff won 35 awards in the Best in Texas Yearbook Contest against 1A-6A schools across the state in December. They competed in design, photography and writing categories and received Superior, Excellent and Honorable Mention awards. 

• Superior 

  • Infographics - Michael Stephens (two awards)

  • Photo Portfolio - JR Jackson

  • Sidebar Presentation - JR Jackson

  • Sidebar Presentation - Mune Nicholson

  • Sports Spread - Haileigh Garrett

  • Sports Story - Jordan Dollar and Aylin Rivera Vega

  • Student-Designed Endsheets - Ezra Grubbs

  • Student Life Photo - JR Jackson

• Excellent 

  • Academics Spread - Rhastin Nelson

  • Academics Story - Mune Nicholson

  • Alternative Copy - JR Jackson

  • Opening/Closing Spread - Ezra Grubbs

  • Organizations Spread - Haileigh Garrett

  • Organizations Spread - Evan Brenner

  • Organizations Story - Haileigh Garrett

  • People Copy - JR Jackson

  • Photo Portfolio - Abby Nichols

  • Sports Action Photo - JR Jackson

  • Sports Action Photo - Abby Nichols

  • Sports Spread - Evan Brenner

  • Story Portfolio - Haileigh Garrett

  • Story Portfolio - Lillian Perkins

  • Student Life Story - Haileigh Garrett

• Honorable Mention

  • Academics Photo - JR Jackson

  • Academics Spread - Abby Nichols

  • Design Portfolio - Ezra Grubbs

  • Design Portfolio - Haileigh Garrett

  • Design Portfolio - Mune Nicholson

  • Organizations Story - Lillian Perkins

  • People Copy - Lillian Perkins

  • Sports Action Photo - Michael Stephens

  • Student Life Spread - Rhastin Nelson

  • Theme Development - Ezra Grubbs, Haileigh Garrett and JR Jackson

  • Theme Copy - Ezra Grubbs, Haileigh Garrett and JR Jackson

Interscholastic League Press Conference (ILPC) Individual Achievement Awards  2024

After competing against other 3A schools across the state, the 2022-2023 yearbook staff received 30 ILPC Individual Achievement Awards at the ILPC Spring Convention in April 2024. They competed in design, photography and writing categories. 

Ximena Rojas - Editor-in-chief 

• Student Life-Focused Spread - 3rd Place

• Sports-Focused Spread - 3rd Place

• Sports Action Photo - Honorable Mention

Ximena Rojas, Justin Moorhead, Gavin Cooper, Ezra Grubbs

• Theme Selection and Development - 2nd Place

JR Jackson - Photo Editor

• Club/Organization Feature Story - 1st Place

• Personality Profile Story - 2nd Place

• Student Life Feature Story - 2nd Place

• Student Life-Focused Spread - Honorable Mention

• Photo Portfolio - Honorable Mention

Korben Colquitt - Business Manager

• Sports Feature Story - 3rd Place

Ezra Grubbs 

• Index Spread - 2nd Place

• Academic Photo - 2nd Place

• Academic-Focused Spread - Honorable Mention

Evan Brenner 

• Club/Organization Photo - 1st Place

• Infographic - 2nd Place

• Sports-Focused Spread - Honorable Mention

• Blended Coverage Spread - Honorable Mention

Hailey Leon

• Academic Feature Story - 1st Place

• Student Life Photo - 1st Place

Haileigh Garrett

• Personality Profile - 1st Place

• Student Life Feature Story - Honorable Mention

Luke Riggs

• Sports Action Photo - 1st Place

• Sports Feature Photo - 3rd Place

Kooper Bogenschutz

• Sports Feature Photo - 1st Place

Gavin Cooper

• Club/Organization Photo - 2nd Place

Justin Moorhead 

• Captions - 2nd Place

Jordan Dollar

• Club/Organization Feature Story - 2nd Place

Tony Vicente 

• Club/Organization-Focused Spread - 3rd Place

Madalyn Flores

• Academic Feature Story - 3rd Place

Kamryn Mann 

• Class Spread - 3rd Place

Best in Texas Awards 2023

The 2022-2023 yearbook staff won 30 awards in the Best in Texas Yearbook Contest against 1A-6A schools across the state. They competed in design, photography and writing categories and received Superior, Excellent and Honorable Mention awards.

Superior 

• Organizations Copy - JR Jackson

Excellent 

• Academic Copy - Madalyn Flores 

• Divider Design - Ximena Rojas

• Infographics - Evan Brenner (two awards)

• Organizations Copy - Haileigh Garrett

• People Copy - JR Jackson, Hailey Leon

• Sports Action Photo - Luke Riggs

• Sports Feature Photo - Kooper Bogenschutz, Gavin Cooper, Luke Riggs

• Sports Spread Design - Ximena Rojas

• Student Life Copy - JR Jackson

• Student Life Photo - JR Jackson

• Theme Copy - Justin Moorhead, Ximena Rojas

Honorable Mention

• Academics Photo - Ezra Grubbs

• Academics Spread - Ezra Grubbs

• Caption Writing - Ximena Rojas

• Design Portfolio - Justin Moorhead

• Organizations Spread - Tony Vicente (two awards)

• Photo Portfolio - JR Jackson, Ximena Rojas

• Sports Action Photo - Kooper Bogenschutz, Gavin Cooper, Ximena Rojas

• Student Life Photo - Hailey Leon, Tony Vicente

• Theme Development - Justin Moorhead, Ximena Rojas