Wyatt Meyer, editor-in-chief for ODYSSEY Media Group (OMG) at Clarke Central High School in Athens, Georgia, is the 2025 Georgia Champion Journalist of the Year. The award, administered by the Georgia Scholastic Press Association, recognizes the top high school senior journalist in the state.

Wyatt Meyer is the 2025 Georgia Champion Journalist of the year. submitted photo

Jane Ripps, managing editor for OMG, is the runner-up in the competition.

The winners were selected from a highly competitive group of seven 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 Meyer for his writing, design and photography skills. “To see such a passionate, clever, interested, focused, and curious journalist taking on and reporting such intense subjects at the level at which you do is simply remarkable,” the judge noted.

Meyer’s adviser, David Ragsdale, wrote the following in a recommendation letter: “Through the last four years of our work together, Wyatt has proven to be a once-in-a-generation student. He’s demonstrated a commitment to learning, to taking on new challenges, and to supporting peers in their learning. I’m proud to say he continues to grow as a writer and as a leader.”

ODYSSEY Media Group Editor-in-Chief Wyatt Meyer speaks at the 2024 Southern Interscholastic Press Association spring conference on March 6, 2024. Meyer was named SIPA President for 2025 after running for the student officer role. “After years of writing, editing, designing, shooting, and leading the ODYSSEY staff, being named SIPA President in front of a room of colleagues from across the South was one of the most impactful moments of my journalism career,” Meyer wrote. Photo courtesy of SIPA

In a personal narrative statement, Meyer expressed feeling “forever grateful” to have joined OMG. “In journalism, I’ve found an outlet that drives me as relentlessly as any academic class while also allowing me to make a tangible impact on my community,” he wrote. “Everything from the staff culture to the stories themselves has shaped my work ethic and high standards,” he added later in the piece.

Meyer was the 2024 Georgia Junior Champion Journalist. He served as a GSPA Student Ambassador in 2023-24, and he is the 2024-25 Student President of the Southern Interscholastic Press Association (SIPA), housed at the University of South Carolina’s College of Information and Communications. Meyer is also the first place winner in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s 2025 Centennial Student Essay Contest.

Meyer 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. He also advances to represent the state in the Journalism Education Association’s National Journalist of the Year Competition. Ripps will receive a $750 prize.

In addition to the senior-level contest, GSPA honors the top high school junior journalist in the state. Peter Atchley, diversity and representation editor for Clarke Central High School’s ODYSSEY Media Group, was selected as the Georgia Junior Champion Journalist winner. He will receive a $750 prize. Atchley is a current GSPA Student Ambassador. Brennan Fritts, news associate managing editor, and Audrey Lyons, comment associate managing editor for The Southerner at Midtown High School, tied as runners-up. They will each receive a $500 prize. There were eleven entries in the junior division.

All winners will be recognized during the GSPA Spring Awards and Workshop on Monday, March 24 at the University of Georgia’s Center for Continuing Education.