This past weekend, 17 members of The Forum’s editorial team traveled to Nashville, Tenn. for the 2025 National High School Journalism Convention. They returned with an array of individual and publication-wide awards, including a fifth-place finish in the Best of Show contest—the highest national honor The Forum has ever earned as a full staff.
According to the Journalism Education Association and National Scholastic Press Association, which sponsor the contest, the Best of Show award is “presented to the student media outlet for the overall product.” The competition receives entries from schools across the country, with nine states represented among the top 10 finishers. The Forum competed in the category for online newspapers from high schools with fewer than 1,800 students.
Senior and Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Forum, Lyla Granich, said, “This award is really huge, and is the product of a lot of continuous effort from the entire staff, from staff writers to the higher editorial team. The Forum is a lot less resourced compared to some of the other award winners, so [the award] is even more of a testament to the paper being a student-run paper.”
Over three days in Nashville, the editorial team spent time exploring Music City—visiting vinyl record shops, listening to live music on famous Broadway Street, and taking on an infamous classic Nashville hot chicken challenge at Hattie B’s.
The group also spent two full days attending journalism workshops and participating in multiple individual contests. Staff members brought home the following individual recognitions:
Coming home with knowledge gained from workshops and insights from their “Break With a Pro” sessions—a 45-minute small-group conversation with a journalism professional—Forum editors are eager to put these lessons into practice. Junior and co-Media Editor Genevieve Ramsey said, “At the conference, I learned that in media journalism, the most important aspect is to make connections with the viewers and put yourself in their position to analyze what you think they want to see to maximize engagement.”
Junior and co-News Editor Alexa Nasatir echoed this sentiment. “Getting the opportunity to go to Nashville with The Forum was so enriching and inspired me to dig deeper in finding the interesting stories here at Latin,” she said. “I can’t wait to apply what I learned in the workshops and meetings with the professional journalists into my writing for this year and beyond.”
