LAWRENCE, March 3, 2025 — The Kansas Scholastic Press Association is proud to announce the winners of the 2025 KSPA Regional Contests, which awarded the best student journalism from nearly 1,800 entries gathered from around the state. Students were put to the test as they demonstrated their writing, design, illustration, photography, video and reporting skills.
In the Regional Contest, students from 82 different schools competed in 26 different categories in 11 different regionals organized by geography and school size.
From Rock Creek High School, the following students won awards:
Lindsey Trent, Cutline Writing (Captions), 2nd Place
Olivia Bowman, Editorial Writing, 4th Place
Segen Sutton, Infographic Design, 6th Place
Segen Sutton, Koda Moeller, Mikala Barnhart, Multimedia Storytelling, 4th Place
Gabby Adams, Sports Feature Photography, 4th Place
Nathan Bortnick, Dylan Nelson, Braden Miller, Video News, 1st Place
Drew Becker & Donavan Debita, Video PSA, 2nd Place
Braden Miller, Dylan Nelson, Nathan Bortnick, Video PSA, 4th Place
Koda Moeller, Video Sports Promo, 2nd Place
Drew Becker & Donavan Debita, Video Sports Promo, 4th Place
Ashanti Gibbs, Yearbook Copy Writing, 5th Place
Denise Doucett, Yearbook Design, 6th Place
Denise Doucett, Yearbook Theme & Graphics, 4th Place
“From writing on a deadline to crafting social media messages, we know students have pushed themselves to create their award-winning work,” KSPA president-elect Barbara Tholen said. “At the State contest in April, they’ll have an opportunity to learn from their Regional experience and produce even stronger work.”
KSPA enlists the help of journalism teachers, professional journalists, university faculty members and other journalism experts to judge the entries. In addition to receiving feedback on their entries, students will also benefit from reviewing compilations of winning work.
Any student who earns an award in the Regional Contest advances to the KSPA State Contest. The State Contest will also be hosted virtually. Based on results from the State Contest, KSPA will determine the Sweepstakes Winners — the top schools in 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A.
About KSPA: The Kansas Scholastic Press Association is an association of more than 100 high school and middle school journalism programs. Its mission is to promote excellence in high school journalism publications and education. Please log on to learn more at www.kspaonline.org.
KSPA Contact:
Barb Tholen
KSPA president-elect/incoming executive director
[email protected]
