News: Washington Post Honors Loudoun Valley's Martha Akers

(July 7, 2013) - The Washington Post Young Journalists Development Program (YJDP) named Loudoun Valley High School veteran teacher Martha Akers as one of the winners of the second annual YJDP Awards.

The awards recognize significant achievements and contributions of Washington area high school journalism students and advisors.

Akers was one of two award winners in the Mentoring Excellence division. (Timothy Hibberd ofRockville High School in Montgomery County, Md., was the other.)

Akers was honored at a luncheon June 14 at The Washington Post’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Award recipients were chosen by a selection committee consisting of mentors and reporters from The Washington Post and received automatic acceptance into select 2013-14 YJDP programs, mentoring opportunities with Post reporters and personalized trophies.

Akers has taught at Loudoun Valley for 33 years.From 1980-2001, Akers taught various levels and grades of English at Loudoun Valley. In 2001, she began teaching all levels of photojournalism. The program has grown from three classes of photojournalism I and 75 students in the 2000-2001 school year to a total of six sections of photojournalism I, II and III with approximately 160 students. Akers also sponsored the yearbook as an extracurricular activity. Until 2007, she served as the school's student activities coordinator, a position she held for approximately 20 years.

She received her bachelor of arts in English from Bridgewater College and her master’s in editorial leadership from George Mason University.