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The Kansas Scholastic Press Association congratulates Zana Kennedy on winning KSPA’s Susan Massy Award given annually to the 2025 Kansas Student Journalist of the Year. Kennedy has been the editor-in-chief of The Budget at Lawrence High School for the past two years. 

The overall winner is chosen among the winners of different enrollment classifications. Kennedy was the 5A/6A winner. Elaina Gibson of Bishop Miege High School was named 3A/4A 2025 Student Journalist of the Year. Cheyenne Crow of Flint Hills Christian School (Manhattan) was named the 1A/2A 202 5 Student Journalist of the Year. Kennedy received a check for $1,250 while Gibson and Crow received $750 each.

Kennedy is the third overall winner from Lawrence High School in the last four years, and Gibson is Miege’s third student journalist to be recognized in the past three years. 

A panel of judges chose Kennedy’s portfolio as a premiere display of Kansas high school journalism from a collection of the top journalists in the state. The judges are high school publications advisers, university instructors and former scholastic press professionals.

KSPA thanks all of the student journalists from around the state who applied for this award. It takes dozens of hours to construct such a portfolio and gather the necessary materials. Simply applying for this award is a huge accomplishment.

Zana Kennedy : Overall 2025 Student Journalist of the Year and 5A/6A Winner

• School: Lawrence High School
• Adviser: Barbara Tholen
• Publication: The Budget newspaper
• Student portfolio: https://suzanakennedy1.wixsite.com/my-site-

With her powerful personal essay and an impressive portfolio of work, Lawrence High School’s Zana Kennedy proved she was the right choice for the title of 2025 Kansas Student Journalist of the Year. 

As editor-in-chief of Lawrence High School’s newspaper The Budget during her junior and senior years, Kennedy impressed the judges with an in-depth portfolio of solid and varied reporting, extensive research and coverage of important topics to the school, and valuable leadership of her fellow staff members. Kennedy also demonstrated excellence in the use of social media, publication design, broadcast journalism and audience engagement.

The judges reviewed Kennedy’s application and provided these compliments:

• “Wow. From breaking news to features, from sports to opinions, this portfolio is as exceptional as it is expansive. All are well reported, sourced and researched, with a consistent quality that rivals commercial journalism.”
• “Style and editing are impressive, but the real strength is the depth of reporting and research included in every story.’
• “Coverage is evidence of your understanding of the rights and responsibilities afforded.”
• “From the continued commitment to the school hall of fame to special activities to underrepresented programs — the portfolio details stellar specifics.”
• “An impressive collection of work. I hope future editors and staffs continue the quality of reporting collaboration and attention to detail you have established in this portfolio.”

Kennedy’s personal narrative described her journey through high school as she grew as a journalist and fell in love with the craft.

“High school journalism fulfilled my passion for writing in a way I didn’t believe was possible. It began with the first story I wrote highlighting the girls’

 gymnastics team, which was saved from elimination by community outpour and questions about Title IX. It continues when writing about the Harvey’s, part of a series seeking to push our alumni to diversify our school’s Hall of Honor. My passion led me to a leadership position in the journalism classroom as the editor-in-chief of The Budget, our print newspaper during my junior year.”

While working as a staff to challenge a school-administered invasive AI technology by the name of Gaggle, Kennedy helped during the newspaper’s silent protest by wearing black armbands — an homage to the Tinker v. Des Moines case, which determined students have First Amendment rights at school.

“As I wore the black armband around school, one of my friends looked at it and commented, ‘I don’t know why we should care.’ It was disheartening to see how truly oblivious my peers were to the problem. How could they not see the scanning of all of our documents as anything other than a direct violation of multiple constitutional rights? It just made me determined to fight harder.”

Kennedy’s adviser Barbara Tholen said Kennedy hasn’t given up that fight.

“Zana knows when to cause ‘good trouble,’ to borrow the words of John Lewis.This year, Zana picked up the challenge of continuing to look into what these systems were doing. Shockingly, she struggled to get answers to her open records requests as the AI tool Gaggle initially blocked email responses from our district. As good reporting does, her work is continuing to shed new light on this deeply imperfect system.”

Tholen also reflected on Kennedy’s drive and her impact on the staff she leads. 

“What I’ve learned during the past few years is that Zana is eager to learn everything she can from every experience she gets. She sets a pace for hard work that helps everyone else get the most from those opportunities, too. She truly represents the best of what scholastic journalism can be.”

Last year’s Kansas Student Journalist of the Year Maya Smith said that after Kennedy was named editor-in-chief of the newspaper as a junior, she came to her in search of tips and advice. Smith was impressed with Kennedy’s ability to lead the staff as well as excel not only as an editor and reporter, but in her school work.

“Having been a junior editor-in-chief myself, I understood where she was coming from. Her first year as an EIC she did incredible even with deadlines fluctuating and having a staff that works on four different publications at once. She did all of this while taking arguably the hardest junior year class load and being a ballerina at our local arts center.”

The KSPA board of directors wishes Kennedy the best luck in the upcoming competition for national student journalist of the year. Her work will now move on to compete against nominees from each state. The Journalism Education Association will recognize five portfolios, one winner and four runner-ups, at the National High School Journalism Convention in Seattle, April 24-26. 

Elaina Gibson: 3A/4A Student Journalist of the Year

• School: Bishop Miege High School
• Adviser: Sarah McCambridge and Matt Thomas
• Publication: The Miegian
• Student portfolio website: https://maryelainagibson.wixsite.com/website

Mary Elaina Gibson’s portfolio showed a passion for writing and the initiative to tackle the stories of her community. The judges were impressed with her consistent ability to find solid sources as well as to keep her opinion out of stories that tended to evoke strong feelings. This is not surprising given Gibson’s goal of bringing crucial topics to light while living in a society where facts and fundamental truths are often overlooked.

Her application also included recommendations from fellow staff members that really made her talent as a leader apparent.

Gibson is the third Student Journalist of the Year winner in as many years for Bishop Miege in the 3A/4A category. 

The judges who reviewed Gibson’s application and gave praise in the following areas:

• I love that you’re willing to work with and challenge your administration, even in a private school setting. I find compromise is often the best way to be able to cover what students want and I love you’re living that.”
• “Leadership is evident in letters, in personal narrative and in the tools (chain of command…) you have created, but the real evidence of leadership is the testimonial notes from staff included. That’s a nice touch.”
• A very strong portfolio. The best parts are the depth and breadth of reporting and the work with admin to make it so your paper can cover some topics that have controversial elements to them. 

Gibson reflected on the lessons she has learned in her time as a journalist and leader at Bishop Miege in the personal essay submitted as part of her application.

“Self-improvement is always the goal as I want to remain in journalism for years to come. Successfully conveying your story’s meaning to the audience, collecting insightful interviews, and collaborating with photographers and designers to bring everything together is key. Recognizing the significance of all aspects of an article was a crucial part of broadening my understanding of the press. The journalism program at my school has given me a place to develop my creativity, ask questions, build friendships, and gain a strong work ethic and leadership skills I would not trade for the world.”

In her letter of recommendation, Sarah McCambridge, Gibson’s adviser in 2023 and 2024, said she was particularly proud of Gibson’s work ethic and leadership.

“Throughout the six years I served as adviser, I saw many strong editors, but Elaina had a very special challenge that no other editor has faced. Her sophomore year, she learned from a large group of senior editors, but when they graduated, there were big shoes to fill. As one of only four members who had been on staff the year before, Elaina quickly stepped up to be web editor-in-chief, even though she was only a junior. Throughout the year, she guided her large group of rookie reporters and designers from a somewhat chaotic first month to a state championship and All-Kansas award. She did all this with a spirit of collaboration, which encouraged our new writers to go to her for help and suggestions.”

Bishop Miege principal Maureen Engen praised Gibson’s willingness to strive for excellence in everything she does.

“Elaina is not afraid of extraordinary endeavors. She aspires to be the very best in managing the newspaper staff, coming up with design and story ideas, editing, assisting those in need of help, and every facet of quality control that has led the Miege publications to be recognized as excellent. Elaina has a profound understanding of her mission and vocation. She is the ultimate student, one that knows she stands on the shoulders of those gone before her; powerful in her conviction to put heart and soul into everything she does.”

Cheyenne Crow: 1A/2A Student Journalist of the Year

• School: Flint Hills Christian School in Manhattan
• Advisers: Heather Mallon, Michaela Crow & Beth Linville
• Publication: The Shield yearbook
• Student portfolio website: https://crcrow2025.wixsite.com/kspaentry

A portfolio that showcased growth and leadership over her high school journalism career and a personal narrative that detailed the many lessons she learned as a leader of the Shield yearbook led judges to select Flint Hills Christian School’s Cheyene Crow as the 1A/2A Kansas Student Journalist of the Year. Judges were impressed with her photojournalism and design skills as well as her personal reflection. Her strong leadership and mentoring skills also helped Crow distinguish herself from the other applicants.

 The judges praised Crow’s resilience and leadership in her small journalism program:

• “She’s a hero — a
  strong editor and photojournalist on a small staff. With a staff of four, she is tenacious in her efforts to tell the story of the school as well as train staff members for continued success.”
• “In addition to being technically excellent, each of the submitted images is telling a story, which is what sets apart a photojournalist.”
• “The narrative focuses on the challenges of journalism in a small school — and how she stayed the course. It’s a well-written story of her journey through a small school journalism program.”
• “Leadership is demonstrated by teaching new staff members, taking initiative to complete pages and the strong letters of recommendation.”
• “Comments throughout the portfolio indicate she works to improve the quality of the publication by teaching her staff skills to effectively communicate with the readership.”
• “Diversity is evidenced by the broad spectrum of coverage with kindergarten through senior students, as well as all the activities of the school.”

In her personal essay, Crow summed up her experiences during her time leading the yearbook staff like this:

“With countless rotating staff members and three different advisors over my four years, I have learned to adapt to different people ’s working styles and work alongside each of them to create a cohesive yearbook publication. Being in yearbook and journalism has taught me a love for capturing special moments. What a joy it is to be able to produce a book of people’s fondest memories from elementary, middle, and high school.“

Former Shield adviser Beth Linville had high praise for Crow’s work ethic and leadership:

“Not only has Cheyenne been instrumental in delivering a quality yearbook each of her four high school years, she is also an ambassador for the yearbook program motivating other students to become interested in yearbook and journalism. Cheyenne is an excellent journalist and team leader. She is dependable and ensures that the work gets done.”

Former Shield adviser Michaela Crow believes Cheyenne has a bright future ahead of her:

“Even beyond Cheyenne’s technical journalism skills, though, are her leadership skills which have made her and her publication successful and deserving of the Journalist of the Year award. She has truly taken ownership of her staff and her yearbook, and this boldness to help others be successful, do her best, and tell good stories will continue to serve her well as she looks toward her future.”