Oxford High's The Charger Named Mississippi News Publication of the Year

The Charger, Oxford High School's student newspaper, claimed News Publication of the Year at the Mississippi Scholastic Press Association spring convention last week, the sixth time the paper has taken that title since 2018. The staff brought home 18 total awards, with three students earning top individual honors in the state.

Anderson Shows, the paper's co-editor-in-chief and sports editor, was named Mississippi High School Journalist of the Year, the MSPA's most prestigious individual recognition for student reporters. Brody Denevan earned Sports Journalist of the Year, and Chloe Anderson was designated an All-Mississippi Journalist. The remaining 15 awards spanned individual and group categories across reporting, design, photography and multimedia.

The MSPA, founded in 1947 and housed at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, draws student journalists and advisers from across the state each spring. Publications are evaluated on their full body of work, including reporting depth, editing standards, visual design and digital coverage. For a single publication to claim the top prize six times in eight years signals institutional consistency, not a single standout season.

That consistency matters beyond trophies. The Charger's coverage feeds directly into the information diet of Oxford and Lafayette County families, from school-board decisions and athletics to student achievement and public-safety issues. The paper has served as a training ground that has produced multiple state Journalist of the Year honorees over the years, opening doors for its graduates to college scholarship competitions and national journalism programs.

The 18-award haul at this year's convention reflects a program that competes across every category the MSPA evaluates, not just in headline writing or photography alone. For a staff of high school students producing original journalism on deadline, that breadth of recognition is a direct measure of the program's scope and the investment Oxford's school district has made in student media.