Dos Pueblos Student Journalists Take Spotlight on National Stage

DPNews Earns Top Honors as One of Best High School Networks in Nation

The DPNews team, back row, from left: Arianna de Jesus Escobar, Jonny Mendez, Luke Knight, Townes Widger, Zenia Potter, Stephen McEllroy, Lucas Trexler, Micah Barnhart, Tyler McCutchen, Evan Pinsker, Grant Nelson, Doug Caines, Mychal Nuno, Brody Schalker, Diego Marin, Lucas Abughazaleh, Erik San Juan Villegas, Jackson Myers, Jonathan Harling, Rocky Thoman, Wyatt Loffer, and Selah Blackwell. Front Row, from left: Xochitl Jolapa, Rachel Janusas, Will Christensen, Sophia Pixley, Nate Vincent, Natalee Zbinden, Everett Womack, Alex Gardiner, Sam Blakely, and John Dent. | Credit: Courtesy

Student journalists from Dos Pueblos High School traveled to Tampa Bay, Florida, for a three-day conference and award ceremony, where the talented group of teenagers took home top honors as one of the best high school news networks in the country.

More than 3,500 students from hundreds of schools across the country came together from March 1-4 for the annual National Student Television Network Convention, where the programs competed in on-the-spot contests — in which students had a limited amount of time to create, film, and edit a segment in a number of different categories — and received the results of the annual National Excellence Awards, honoring the best production teams nationwide.

DPNews was first launched in 2004 by Dos Pueblos teacher John Dent, who has helped shape the program into a premier student-run media network that produces a daily news broadcast, social media show, and podcast. In recent years, Dent passed the torch over to Doug Caines, and together the two advisors have ushered in a new era with a program that has broken into nationwide prominence, garnering first-place awards in both 2023 and 2024.

Micah Barnhart and Tyler McCutchen celebrate a first-place win for their “Man on the Street” video, produced on site in Tampa during the three-day competition. | Credit: Courtesy

This year, the program won three top honors in the National Excellence Awards. The daily broadcast, DPNews, and social media show, The Flash, both earned Silver Medals (for the top 5 percent of programs in the nation). The Goodland Podcast took a Gold Medal, placing the Dos Pueblos program among the top 2 percent countrywide.

Dos Pueblos students also fared well in the individual and on-the-spot contests. In the “Crazy 8’s” competition, which gave the team of 30 students eight hours to produce an eight-minute morning show, the DPNews team earned an honorable mention with fourth place overall — the highest the school has ever placed in nearly 20 years of attending the national competition.

The trio of Alex Gardiner, Everett Womack, and Sam Blakely also took home an honorable mention with fourth place in the “convention promo” contest.

Dos Pueblos senior Sophia Pixley (left) and Egypt McDaniel of DC International School announced the first-place award for “Man on the Street,” which went to a duo from DPNews. | Credit: Courtesy

One of the show’s student producers, Sophia Pixley, has played a large role in the program’s ascent to success. She was part of a three-person team that took home awards in both 2023 and 2024, including two-first place awards for Broadcast Story and Feature Story competitions last year.

This year, Pixley was selected as one of a handful of students in the country to present an award on the convention’s main stage — the first time a Dos Pueblos student was asked to take part in the closing ceremony.

This created a moment that became the highlight of the night for the Dos Pueblos students, when Pixley took the stage to announce the first-place winners of the “On the Street” segment: her own Dos Pueblos classmates Micah Barnhart and Tyler McCutchen.

As soon as Pixley announced the first-place award, the section of DPNews students erupted in cheers, and Barnhart and McCutchen jumped onstage to receive the award for their 90-second video, a funny and well-produced collection of interviews asking people in the streets of Tampa about their celebrity encounters.

The success of the DPNews program is a testament to the commitment of the teachers, students, and school staff that have supported the growth of the media department over the years, expanding from a small classroom into a brand-new, state-of-the-art media center, where DPNews, the school yearbook, and communications classes continue to evolve with the newest available technology.

“DPNews continues to showcase the talent, dedication, and passion of Dos Pueblos High School’s student journalists, solidifying its reputation as one of the country’s top high school broadcast programs,” Dent said.