Gretna East Media (GEM) won its second state title on Monday. By becoming the 2025 Class B NSAA State Journalism Champions, GEM is the first program in Gretna East’s history to win back-to-back state championships.
“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to win,” journalism adviser Ranae Duncan said. “I mean, I hoped we did, but we’ve seen so much success this year throughout different competitions that I thought it would be too good to happen, but my GEMs [Gretna East Media students] went out, worked hard and proved that they are good at what they do, and that it wasn’t ‘just luck.’ As their adviser, I couldn’t be more proud.”
Fourteen GEMs, consisting of 10 Wingspan student news staff members and four Guardian Yearbook staff members, represented GEM in the competition. To get to State, they had to qualify in a preliminary competition where only the top eight entries moved on to the NSAA State Championship in Norfolk, where students competed in live competitions for 13 of the contest’s 25 categories. The other categories’ State Championship placements were based on preliminary judging and were announced at the awards ceremony.
In total, GEM had 22 entries advance and place in the state competition. Of those 22, they had 11 top-three finishes, with first-place finishes from Guardian staff member, freshman Macy Plummer, and Wingspan staff members, junior Reese Beery and seniors Brody Heidemann and Colton Knott.
“As a freshman, it felt awesome going to State,” Plummer said. “It was a win in itself to even just qualify, let alone place first in my category. I was just happy to be there in general, even if I got last place, I would’ve been so grateful and proud of myself. I was expecting to do alright, but definitely not first. My initial reaction was probably just feeling a wave of confidence that I guess I do have real talent, and I can actually do this.”
After the individual award portion of the awards ceremony concluded, the team sweepstakes awards were announced. Each individual placement earned between six and 20 points for their school, depending on how well they did.
Coming in 58 points shy of GEM, West Point Beemer High School was named the NSAA Class B State Runner-up with 268 points.
“I was just so proud of all our hard work this year,” Wingspan Managing Editor, junior Brayden Hansen, said. “I feel like we all grew so much from the beginning of the year to now, and I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else.”
Plummer and Knott, who were two of the team’s six first-time State Journalism competitors, earned two of the three GEM first-place finishes.
“Winning the gold in Broadcast Feature Story just felt like the storybook ending I wanted for high school,” Knott said. “While I only joined the staff this year, I was very grateful to have made a worthwhile impact for our team while I was here.”
In all, GEM hopes to continue this success in the future.
“I hope this title win will motivate us to come back next year stronger and better than ever,” Wingspan Sports Editor, Beery, said. “Now it’s our responsibility to uphold that standard.”
Their State win came just one day after returning from the Journalism Education Association (JEA)/National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) National High School Journalism Convention in Seattle, Wash, where GEM earned 12 individual awards in the JEA National Student Media Contests. The Wingspan also received national honors at the convention, including being named a NSPA Online Pacemaker Finalist and the 8th Place Best of Show News Website.
“All of the success they have had this year, and last, has been the result of hard work, growing from the sting of revision after revision and an incredible amount of tenacity and courage,” Duncan said. “These kids weren’t just handed these awards. They worked for them. The grit, determination and dedication that they have shown is what has laid the foundation for a legacy of excellence that I hope continues well into the future for GEM.”
