Bryant High School hosted the 2025 Arkansas Scholastic Press Association’s Spring Convention Friday, April 4 and Saturday, April 5. Bryant Junior High and High School students participated in competitions, educational sessions and an awards luncheon with over 400 students from around the state celebrating scholastic journalism.
Bryant advisers Meag Abo, Colton Croy, Justin Turner and Michael Westbrook were named The Walter J. Lemke Award recipients for 2025, ASPA’s most prestigious honor awarded for exemplary service to scholastic journalism in Arkansas. In addition to leading outstanding journalism programs at Bryant Junior High and Bryant High School, these educators also serve as influential leaders at the state level. Justin Turner is the Arkansas State Director for the Journalism Education Association and serves on the ASPA board. Colton Croy is the Vice President of ASPA, Michael Westbrook is the Treasurer, and Meag Abo serves as Secretary.
Print Adviser Colton Croy earned the distinction of Journalism Adviser of the Year. Croy was nominated by his fellow Bryant advisers and his students for his dedication to students and their success (both in journalism and in life), strong leadership, his belief in the importance of student leadership and the power of student voice.
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- Newspaper Staff
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- Junior High 2
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- Junior High 1
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- High School Broadcast
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- Yearbook
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- Bryant High School Lemke Award
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- Colton Croy
Programs submitted their work for consideration in a General Excellence contest, with a special distinction of All-Arkansas for programs considered the best in the state.
Bryant Junior High Awards:
Swarm Productions – Superior in Film
The Occurrence – Superior in Digital and Print Newspaper
Dynamic – Superior in Literary Magazine
The Blue and White – Superior in Yearbook
Bryant High School Awards
The Prospective Online – Superior in Digital Newspaper
Hornet Media – Superior and All-Arkansas in Broadcast
The Hornet – Superior and All-Arkansas in Yearbook
Of the Year awards are the biggest awards given to individuals at the state level. These are awarded based on the evaluation of a portfolio of work from the year. The following students placed:
Junior High School students competed against others in the Tier 1 Division consisting of Middle School / Jr. High / Freshman Academy entrants:
Broadcast
Brayden Johnson – Producer of the Year Winner
Cayden Robertson – Video Editor of the Year Winner
Newspaper
Bella Luper and Brayden Rowe – Editors of the Year Winner
Brayden Rowe- Writer of the Year Winner
Sophia Burton – Designer of the Year Winner
Yearbook
Adison Richards – Business Manager of the Year Winner
Carolina Relford- Designer of the Year 2nd Runner-Up
Rylee Solomon – Editor of the Year 1st Runner-Up
High School students competed against others in the Tier 3 division consisting of 5A-7A entrants:
Broadcast
Chelsea Jensen – Broadcast Journalist of the Year Winner
Riley Forte – On-Air Talent of the Year Winner
Mady Calhoun – Producer of the Year Winner
Matthew Anderson Sports Journalist of the Year First Runner-Up
Yearbook
Kaylee Anderson and Siya Rohant – Yearbook Editors of the Year Winner
Kaylee Anderson – Designer of the Year Winner
Kaylee Anderson – Photojournalist of the Year Winner
Krisha Patel – Writer of the Year Winner
Students competed against their peers across the state without classification limits in mail-in competitions submitted prior to the convention.
Junior High yearbook students won 28 awards ranging from honorable mention to superior, including:
Best of ASPA awarded to Sami Taylor for Academic Photograph.
Broadcast won 5 awards.
Film won 4 awards.
Online newspaper won 17 awards.
Literary Magazine won 7 awards.
Print newspaper won 32 awards, including:
Best of ASPA by Catalina Schleuse for Editorial Cartoon,
Best of ASPA by Sophia Burton for Informational Graphic and
Best of ASPA for Sports Page Design also by Sophia Burton.
High school broadcast earned 12 awards ranging from honorable mention to superior, including:
Best of ASPA for Monthly show by the Hornet Media Staff,
Feature News Package by Taylor Dischinger,
Sports Package by Bentley Balisterri and
Demo Reel by Isai Perez.
Newspaper won 14 awards.
Yearbook won 28 awards, including:
Best of ASPA for Academic Copy by Krisha Patel,
Group/Club Copy by Aislyn Martin,
Sports Copy by Caroline Sanders and Siya Rohant,
Special Coverage by the Hornet Yearbook Staff,
Academic Layout by the Hornet Yearbook Staff,
Group/Club Layout by Josie Atkins and Amery Felton,
Student Life Photo by Kaylee Anderson,
Group/Club Photo by Xoe Hawkins and
Theme Development by the Hornet Yearbook Editors.
Students competed in prompted competitions at the convention against 20 other schools.
Bryant Junior High earned three 1st place, four 2nd place and seven 3rd place wins.
Bryant High School students earned 13 1st place, seven 2nd place and eight 3rd place wins.
ASPA takes the opportunity of the spring convention to partner with Arkansas Press Women to announce the APW’s High School Communication Contest winners.
1st place – Newscast – Hornet News Now Episode 3 – Staff
1st place – News Package – ROTC Inspection by Chelsea Jensen
2nd place – Opinion – “Making America Great Again or Not?” by Emily Carden
HM – News Story – “Mapping Out The ATLAS Test” by Katie Wright
HM – Sports Photo – “Defensive Dodge” by Addison Warford
HM – Graphics/Photo Illustration – “Joker In: Destroying Your Mountain!” by Jacob Douglas
This was the first time Bryant hosted ASPA’s convention in its 96 year history. Students at both junior high and high school worked diligently to make this event successful and ensured that ASPA will be able to continue to support Arkansas students and journalism for another 100 years.
Browse the list of all the events in Saline County at www.mysaline.com/events/
