Dos Pueblos High School’s media programs — comprising The Charger Account, DPNews, and yearbook’s The Image — attended the Journalism Education Association’s Spring 2026 National High School Journalism Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and received various prestigious awards and recognitions at the national stage this past week.
The biannual convention draws thousands of student journalists from across the country and the world, and includes seminars and educational presentations, networking opportunities, national awards given to students and schools, and other events. DPHS received multiple individual and program-wide awards for media programs around campus.
“DP did really well, and this was actually the best that the Charger Account has ever done in terms of awards,” said Mika Glasgow (11), a copy editor for The Charger Account. “Our website got fourth place for Best in Show, which is really good, and the big thing is that DPMedia as a whole got one of the First Amendment awards, which means that our school supports our right to free speech.”
Various journalism students also received individual awards for their articles, student leadership, photography and overall success within the program.
Evangelina Corley (10) a design editor for The Image received an “excellent” award for a photography contest and said her peers also earned recognition.
“My group got a lot of awards for separate on-site and online submissions,” Corley said. “For example, Max Heinemann got an award for his photography that he had previously done as well as Myra got an award for art that she’s made on site.”
DPNews continued the success of Dos Pueblos’s media programs, receiving prestigious national awards while also learning and enriching the program.
“I competed with Mychal Nuno (12) in the news broadcast package,” said Townes Widger (11), executive producer of DPNews’ monthly magazine show, The Charger Playbook, “We were given three hours to find a story, like a business, a person, or anything, in this mall that we were assigned to, film in three hours and then edit in three hours.”
Widger and his Nuno initially struggled to find a subject for the contest, receiving over 20 rejections in 2 hours.
“It was kind of disheartening,” Widger said, “but with 40 minutes left, we finally got a yes from this really cool Korean food place, and it was the fastest shoot I think either of us have ever done, and we actually ended up getting first place.”
DPNews’ monthly show Beyond DP also earned first place for Best in Show, marking a prestigious achievement for the program.
DP Media plans to attend the next JEA convention in November in Orlando, Florida. In the meantime, the programs aim to keep improving and strengthening student journalism, to continue a legacy of success for these programs on campus.
JEA awards received throughout DP Media this week included:
Fourth place, Best of Show: The Charger Account
Individual Best of Show: Ty Abel (10), Mika Glasgow (11), Max Heinemann (10), and Kristian Lazcano (12)
Excellence in Literary Magazine Photography: Eva Corley (10)
Excellence in Newswriting: Mika Glasgow (11)
Sports Action Photography: Max Heinemann (10)
Honorable mention in Feature Writing: Kristian Lazcano (12)
Honorable mention in Review Writing: Nam-Anh Lê (10)
Literary Magazine Illustration: Myra Robson (9)
Broadcast Package First Place: Townes Widger (11) and Mychal Nuno (12)
Edited name correction 5/28/26
