Former Editor-in-chief Ilana Gale, Editor-in-Chief Rebekah Spector and Managing Editor Kyrah Hunter sat nervously in their seats as they waited through the many awards in the high school category of the Los Angeles Press Club. In a blink of an eye, the students rushed out of their seats to accept their award for Best High School Newspaper only to be rewarded a second award for Best Spot News in their article,  “LAUSD bomb threat that closed all schools was not credible.”

The event took place at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles on June 26 and welcomed many honorable faces in the world of journalism. Faces such as CEO of National Public Radio Jarl Mohn, environmental activist Erin Brockovich, Associated Press photographer Nick Ut and California-born journalist Jason Rezaian.

The night began with the red carpet open for anyone interested in getting their photo taken. A silent auction provided highly valuable items along with cocktails. It wasn’t until later in the night that dinner was served and the award ceremony began.

For the second year in a row, The Pearl Post was named Best High School Newspaper, winning against Beverly Hills High School. Gale, Spector and Hunter also took away a big win with first place in Best Spot News Writing for their article “LAUSD bomb threat that closed all schools was not credible” from Dec. 15, 2015. The article is the product of several staff members’ hard work during a time of high alert and uncertainty. Many staff members spent the entire working on the article which definitely paid off in the end.

The  article won over college students coming from California State University of Northridge (CSUN), University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and California State University Long beach, who were also competing for Spot News category.

After the student awards were given, the night went on to give the President’s Award, the newly named Bill Rosendahl Public Service Award, named after the late Los Angeles City Councilman and former president of the Club, the Daniel Pearl Award and Joseph M. Quinn Award for lifetime achievement.

Mohn was awarded the President’s Award for Impact on Media. Mohn was appointed to his position in 2014 and was the eighth CEO in eight years. In Jarl’s speech before accepting the award, he brought up the tragedies of journalists who were slain in action,  33 in this year alone adding into the total amount of 100 journalist lost. This including Mohn’s colleagues David Gilkey and Afghan interpreter Zabihullah Tamanna.

“In our 25-year history (of NPR), these deaths were the very first we had so our entire organization is reeling from this,” Mohn said, “They were working on a story that very few others would take but we feel strongly that this is a part of our mandate.”

Brockovich who has been a warrior for clean water all over the United States was awarded for her achievements across the years after her start in small town of Hinkley, California, in 1993. Brockovich was even involved with helping the people Flint, Michigan with their toxic water a year before the issue hit the news. The activist’s speech was largely set on how much getting the word out about contaminated water and how the fight is far from over.

“It’s about information,” Brockovich said, “It’s about social awareness. It’s not one person can do.”

Ut, the man who caught the moment of little girl fleeing from her village that had been bombed by Napalm during the Vietnam War. This photo immortalized as “The Napalm Girl” won a Pulitzer Prize in 1973 along with several others but beyond this iconic photo, Ut showed an act of bravery and humanity by rushing the little girl to the nearest hospital which ended up saving her life. That little girl was now 53-year-old Kim Phuc who was there that night to present Ut with his award which allowed her to show her gratitude to the man that her life in more ways than one.

“That photograph was more powerful than bombs,” Phuc said. “That photograph changed hearts and minds.”

Rezaian was presented with the prestigious Daniel Pearl Award, named by Judea Pearl after his slain son, for Courage and Integrity in Journalism. Rezaian and his wife Yeganeh Salehi, also known as Yegi, were arrested on July 22, 2014. Salehi was released after 72 days but Rezaian was kept in an Iranian prison for 18 months. Rezaian was restricted from seeing a lawyer for seven months and was to be sentenced for supposed espionage and government conspiracy.

Rezaian and Salehi received a lot of support, to the President Barack Obama to the late Muhammad Ali, who was a big symbol for Iranian people. Rezaian was released earlier this year, Jan. 18 and had returned to working for the Washington Post. Pearl presented the award to Rezaian with  heartfelt words that changed the mood of the entire evening into influential inspiration.

“Let us pay tribute to those champions of humanity,” Pearl said reciting the words for Rezaian that Ali had told him when his son, Daniel Pearl was captured in 2001.