In Nashville: Pulitzer-winners at the Fall National High School Journalism Convention
Clockwise from top left: Toluse Olorunnipa, Nicole Carroll, Jessica Gallagher and Alissa Zhu
Pulitzer on the Road was excited to bring award-winning journalists to give a keynote panel at the Fall 2025 National Student Journalism Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, a major student journalism convention attended by 5,200 high school journalists and educators from around the country.
2025 Local Reporting winners Alissa Zhu and Jessica Gallagher of The Baltimore Banner, and 2023 General Nonfiction co-winner Toluse Olorunnipa were in conversation with 2019 Explanatory Reporting Staff contributor and Pulitzer Board member, Nicole Carroll. The winners spoke about the importance of covering local stories and their potential for national reach, and talked about how journalists shape these stories to have the most impact. From building trust in the communities they cover, to the craft, ethics and urgency of reporting at the local level, they discussed the powerful role of storytelling in shaping an informed society.
The keynote presentation took place during the fall convention’s opening ceremony on Thursday, November 13 in front of 2,800 students and educators. Read more about the National Student Journalism Convention and its organizers, the Journalism Education Association (JEA), and the National Scholastic Press Association.
A video recording will be made available soon.