The National High School Journalism Convention took place from April 15-19 with 15 members from the journalism program attending, including members of The Crusader newspaper, The Shield magazine, and The Grail literary magazine.
This year’s Journalism Education Association & National Scholastic Press Association (JEA/NSPA) Convention was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Upon arriving in Minneapolis, the Crusaders visited the Mall of America. On April 16, students were taken on a trip to the Mississippi River and learned about the history of the river.
On April 17, the convention was officially underway with students participating in various sessions pertaining to their field of interest in journalism.
At the outset, the Quiz Bowl participants competed in the first online Quiz Bowl test in preparation for the live competition between finalists on April 18.
The remainder of the convention attendees attended their choice of sessions until the afternoon, when they then all gathered to prepare to participate in the writing competitions.
The focus of the competitions was on different aspects of journalism such as feature writing, news writing, media law and ethics, and photojournalism.
Reflecting on their experience, Elizabeth Walsh ’26 said, “This wasn’t like a school retreat, it was a chance to represent Riordan in a professional manner.”
On April 19, the live rounds of the Quiz Bowl began and Archbishop Riordan’s Quiz Bowl Team performed admirably and displayed tremendous sportsmanship.
Later, many Riordan attendees participated in a session in which journalists who covered Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) issues in Minneapolis presented their stories of coverage.
“It was really cool to hear the journalism side of ICE and how they stayed unbiased,” said Donatella Cirelli ’28.
Following this session, The Crusader conducted two breakout sessions: the first was a session on headline writing and the second was on increasing readership for their publication; both of these sessions were well attended and very successful.
At the end of the day, the attendees went to the awards ceremony where students won multiple awards at the convention, including nine individual awards, breaking a school record.
The winners included: Emmanuelle Ng ’26 (Honorable Mention, News Writing), Josh Lee ’26 (Excellent, Video Package Editing), Aarav Agrawal ’28 (Honorable Mention, News Editing/Headlines/Current Events), Annabelle Hazard ’27 (Honorable Mention, Literary Magazine Poetry), Donatella Cirelli ’28 (Honorable Mention, Literary Magazine Illustration), Ashling Greene (Excellent, Broadcast News Writing), Rose Baik ’26 (Excellent, Editorial Writing), Ishaan Gupta ’26 (Honorable Mention, Sports Writing), and Loghan Hwang ’27 (Honorable Mention, Literary Magazine Photography).
In addition, The Crusader website won 6th place in the best of show category as well as The Grail winning 9th place for literary magazine.
Through this convention, students were acknowledged for their hard work, while also spending time with their peers and representing the school.
