Several Free State High School students claimed national awards for excellence in reporting, photojournalism and design, and a local journalism instructor netted the highest honor available to educators from the National Scholastic Press Association.

NSPA’s prestigious Fall 2025 awards, presented Nov. 15, recognized outstanding student journalists across the nation. 

Free State senior Phoebe Morris ranked first in the News Story category for her piece on Medicaid cuts affecting a sophomore. Read that article here. 

Her peers in photojournalism and design went home with several rankings, including senior Nathan Friedman’s first-place status for Sports Game/Action Photo. See Friedman’s mud volleyball shot here.

Across reporting and photography awards, Free State students also netted a handful of honorable mentions.

Jared Shuff, the Free State journalism adviser, said he’s incredibly proud of his students’ work, referencing the many hours of work it takes to get the right shot or draft a hard-earned story.

“The recognition is fantastic and worth celebrating, but it’s never the end-goal for them,” Shuff said. “It’s about creating quality publications and covering topics that matter to our school and local communities. When I look at these kids — every single person on our journalism staff — and the outstanding work they do, I see hope for the future of journalism and in general.”

Barbara Tholen, a well-decorated instructor, was also given a Pioneer Award, the highest NSPA honor granted to journalism teachers. She was the longtime adviser for the Lawrence High School journalism program before she resigned in May and took a job at the University of Kansas.

Becky Tate, president of the NSPA board of directors and a teacher at Shawnee Mission North High School, spoke highly of Tholen during the awards ceremony held in Nashville, Tennessee.

“Students didn’t just produce strong journalism, they produced journalism that mattered, earning state and national awards, but more importantly, they created meaningful journalism that strengthened their community,” Tate said.

Tate highlighted Tholen’s staunch advocacy for her students’ First Amendment rights when the Lawrence school district employed Gaggle, an AI tool that sifted through anything connected to the district’s Google Workspace, including article drafts and photos.

Tholen repeatedly notified the district of these concerns. Students ultimately filed a lawsuit, arguing that the tool violated the Kansas Reporter’s Shield Law, which protects journalists’ confidential notes and sources.

This isn’t Tholen’s first award for teaching — as the Lawrence High School journalism adviser for 15 years, she won the Jackie Engel Award from Kansas Collegiate Media for “Kansas high school teachers who have demonstrated excellence in publications advising,” according to the award’s webpage. 

Tholen was the school district’s Master Teacher in 2021, and a Kansas Master Teacher in 2022. Three of her students — Cuyler Dunn, Maya Smith and Zana Kennedy — went on to win Kansas Student Journalist of the Year awards.

“I also was fortunate to work with the smartest students anyone could hope to meet at Lawrence High School,” Tholen said via email. “I’m still blown away by the stories they told during my 15 years there. They were brilliant, thoughtful, funny, creative and inspiring. And they were so brave. I learned so much from them. They were and are stars.”

She continues to dedicate her career to the lighthouse of student journalism as an instructor at KU’s William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications and the director of the Kansas Scholastic Press Association. 

“Student journalism is where we teach students not just how to tell stories but that they have a right to tell stories,” Tholen wrote. “… Students learn to make tough choices and see the impact of those tough choices. No one is going to like everything you do, and journalism gives students a chance to be reflective about the impact of their work.”

She also said journalism empowers students to recognize the value of their voices and to ask tough questions.

“In the end, I think schools and districts are better when their leaders listen to the tough questions being asked by their students,” she wrote. “After all, student journalists hold a unique role in their ability to voice concerns — something they can do with a candor that teachers and peers are often hesitant to do. Yet, schools and districts benefit from people asking those tough questions.”

Winners of National Student Media Contests (NSMC) are also recognized during the NSPA convention. Miles Beaty and Nathan Kramer, a freelance photographer for The Lawrence Times who attended the convention with classmates, received superior ratings for their work.

Reporting awards

• Phoebe Morris, News Story, first place
• Ember Klein, News Story, honorable mention

Photojournalism and design awards

• Nathan Friedman, Sports Game/Action Photo, first place
• Miles Beaty, Environmental Portrait, second place
• Anders Benson, Photojournalist of the Year, third place
• Miles Beaty, Sports Feature Photo, fourth place
• Anders Benson, Feature Photo, fifth place
• Nathan Friedman, Sports Feature Photo, fifth place
• Harper Finck, Newsmagazine Spread, honorable mention
• Allie Mickel-Lindner, Yearbook Spread, honorable mention
• Richard Li and Avery Smiley, Yearbook Theme/Graphic, honorable mention

NSMC honorees

• Miles Beaty, Photography Portfolio, Superior ranking
• Nathan Kramer, Feature Photographer, Superior ranking
• Ebi Hegeman, Yearbook Copy/Caption: Clubs, Honorable Mention

Wulfe Wulfemeyer (they/them), reporter and news editor, has worked with The Lawrence Times since May 2025. They can be reached at wulfe@lawrencekstimes.com.

Read their complete bio here. Read their work for the Times here.

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