Molly Harwell of Clarke Central High School is the 2024 Georgia Champion Journalist of the year. (submitted Photo)

Molly Harwell, editor-in-chief for ODYSSEY newsmagazine at Clarke Central High School in Athens, Georgia, has been named the 2024 Georgia Champion Journalist of the Year by the Georgia Scholastic Press Association. The award recognizes the top high school senior journalist in the state.

Wesley Harrison, digital editor-in-chief for The Pitchfork and an executive producer for the Blue Devil News at Marietta High School, is the runner-up in the competition. Harrison is a current GSPA Ambassador.

The winners were selected from a highly competitive group of twelve senior candidates, each with portfolios filled with academic achievements and journalism accolades. Portfolios were scored in the following categories: Reporting and Writing; Editing, Leadership and Team Building; Web and Social Media; Design; Broadcast Journalism; Photojournalism; Law, Ethics and News Literacy; Marketing and Audience Engagement; and Commitment to Diversity.

A contest judge commended Harwell’s leadership in the comments on the rubric. “Your journey into journalism through all four years is touching to read. Conflict is the hardest thing to manage as an editor and to seek out trainings on leadership is always the first step. Wonderful work in not staying complacent as a student journalist.” The judge also complimented Harwell’s growth in her writing. “I'm thoroughly impressed with your ability to reflect on the learning you are doing in the writing for the media group. That skill is arguably the hardest skill within self-development and your writing shows us that you have it in spades.”

**Above:** SPEAKING UP: Clarke Central High School senior and ODYSSEY Newsmagazine Editor-in-Chief Molly Harwell presents a list of accolades won by photographer J. Grant Brittain during his visit to the CCHS library on Sept. 28, 2023. Harwell hosted the event with her colleague, *iliad* Literary Art Magazine Editor-in-Chief Olivia Hendershot, helping to introduce Brittain and lead a Q&A with him following his presentation. “I really enjoyed getting to speak with Mr. Brittain,” Harwell said. “It was really interesting to hear his perspective on photography and the world around him, and it was an honor to get to co-host this event.” Photo by Aza Khan

Her adviser, David Ragsdale, noted in a recommendation letter that Harwell is one of only a handful of OMG staffers in the program’s 20-year history to earn the role of editor-in-chief as a junior and continue that role into her senior year.

In a personal narrative statement, Harwell described deciding to join OMG her freshman year as the most meaningful experience of her high school career. “I initially joined the course because of my love for writing, but after just a few short weeks of being involved, ODYSSEY became so much more than a class - it became part of my identity,” she wrote. “As I’m starting to leave ODYSSEY behind and look to the future of college and career, I know that the skills I have learned will translate wherever I go,” she concluded.

Harwell will receive a plaque and a $1,000 monetary award, supported by the Carolyn McKenzie and Don E. Carter Chair for Excellence in Journalism at the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. She also advances to represent the state in the Journalism Education Association’s National Journalist of the Year Competition.

In addition to the senior-level Georgia Champion Journalist of the Year contest, GSPA honors the top high school junior journalist in the state. Wyatt Meyer, lead copy editor for Clarke Central High School’s ODYSSEY Media Group, was selected as the Georgia Junior Champion Journalist winner. Meyer is a current GSPA Ambassador. Sierra Pape, news managing editor for The Southerner at Midtown High School, is the runner-up. There were nine entries in the junior division.

All winners will be recognized during the GSPA Spring Awards and Workshop on Monday, March 25 at the University of Georgia’s Center for Continuing Education in Athens.