Wearing a paper towel roll around his head, senior Paul Hudachek practically bounces off the walls in the high school’s publications room. Laughing and running around, at first sight it may be hard to believe that this energetic student is the Minnesota State Journalist of the Year.

Hudachek, who is Editor-in-chief of the Pony Express Newspaper, is not all play, no work, though. He recently was named Journalist of the Year by the Journalism Education Association in March. He is the sixth Pony Express student to place in the past eight years.

To be considered for this award, Hudachek had to compile a 50-page portfolio application, which was a daunting task. He almost didn’t apply, but adviser Rachel Steil encouraged him. Hudacheck said, “I definitely would not have applied without her nudging.”

The four categories in this portfolio are writing, design, photography, and multimedia/open.

“I felt pretty content with my writing and design portfolios, but the photography was going to be my killer. I ended up showing literally two photographs, one of Madame Kasak-Saxler teaching and one of Ms. Drommerhausen. Creative, right?” joked Hudachek. “I just have never taken a lot of pictures during my time on staff. Luckily, though, because I have done some ad designs, a lot of infographics, and some other design work, my multimedia and design categories apparently made up for that.”

Two years in a leadership position on staff is required for the Journalist of the Year award, which limits the amount of people that are able to apply. But this is for a good reason, because the application is so extensive one would need two years of work to choose from.

“I really think only Editors-in-Chief would have enough content to fill up the portfolio. Hitting the benchmarks in each of the categories was difficult for me. I think a lot of people may have some good examples of one or two of the categories, but not all four,” said Hudachek.

Hudachek said he tends to be pretty critical of himself, but he was proud of his end result. For a good reason, too.
“He completely deserves [winning Journalist of the Year], as he is one of the most hard-working and talented people I know,” said senior Anna Kaul, fellow Editor-in-Chief of the Pony Express. “Paul and I work really well together, and have bonded this year. I can always count on him for support, and we love to bounce ideas off each other. We went in with a similar goal this year, to redesign the paper, and with our collaboration, as well as Christy’s, we’ve succeeded.”

Hudachek plans on attending the Minneapolis College of Art and Design for graphic design, a field he was introduced to through newspaper. His junior year Hudachek was a layout editor, and he quickly discovered his passion was design. “I mean, I do it all the time now,” he commented. Hudachek works hard on making the paper look its best, even if it means helping out other people on their pages.

“Paul gets along with everyone, livens the pubs room, and is so creative. He brings skills in design, writing, and management to the paper. Paul makes being an editor so much fun,” said Kaul.

And as he sings dramatically and jumps on tables, it is obvious that fun is something Hudachek is never going to lose.