The Pearl Post has done it again and has been nominated as a Los Angeles Press Club finalist for the fourth consecutive year.  

Not only did the school newspaper staff gain its fourth nomination for Best High School Paper, three editors are finalists in the Best Spot News writing for their coverage of the  Los Angeles Unified School District bomb threat on Dec. 15.

Editor-in-Chief Ilana Gale, Online Editor-in-Chief Rebekah Spector and Features Editor Kyrah Hunter were surprised once they read their individual emails that stated they were finalists in the breaking news category. The other finalists in that category are colleges such as Cal State Northridge (CSUN), Cal State Long Beach (CSULB) and the University of Los Angeles (UCLA).

The Press Club’s Awards Gala event is June 26 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel.

“It’s extremely exciting because we’ve been working hard on the paper all year and even though we don’t know if we won, being nominated is a great accomplishment for us,” Gale said.

In the Best High School Newspaper category, the other finalist is Beverly Hills High School’s Highlights. In previous years, the school has been nominated against Beverly Hills High School and has won first place in 2012 and 2015 and second place place in 2013 and 2014.  This is the first year that the The Pearl Post is a finalist for the breaking news category.

“I was surprised to hear we were nominated especially since we are up against college newspapers and we rarely have the chance to cover it (breaking news),” Gale said.

The newspaper staff has worked hard this school year and has overcome all the obstacles such as harsh deadlines, juggling both yearbook, print and online news, and many new staff members, so the Press Club nomination is sweet victory for the staff members.
“I would tell them (staff members) to continue to work hard as we did this year and to have patience for the incoming staff because they have to learn so many new skills,” Gale said.