For the first time in eight years The A-Blast has earned as high as second place in Best of Show for the Broadsheet Newspaper category.

The A-Blast has placed this high only once in recent memory, the only time they got first place, in 2006.

The Journalism Education Association (JEA), partnered with the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA), to hold a national convention in DC, where over 6,000 journalism students from across the country attended to learn about ways to improve their respective newspapers and magazines.

The convention only comes to D.C. once every five years and it is the largest gathering of journalists, students or professional, that takes place each year.

“I feel really excited that we placed second after several years of not placing in the top ten,” Co-Editor in Chief Berta Tarqui said. “I am so proud of our staff on how hard they have contributed to make us a well known newspaper in different high schools.”

Because the convention draws students from hundreds of high schools, earning this award is an even bigger accomplishment than it seems.

“When we won, I was really happy. I wasn’t sure we were going to win because it’s a national convention with 6,000 students representing hundreds of schools,” Golub said. “So to have gotten second place is really great because it sort of validates all of the hard work and late nights that we put in to create the newspaper.”

In addition to the award received at the convention, The A-Blast also earned a VHSL (Virginia High School League) Trophy Class ranking, the top honor in the VHSL Publications Evaluation Service. Co-Editors in Chief Jarod Golub and Tarqui and Managing Editor Chelsea Alfonso chose three of the best newspapers from last year.

“I definitely think we can achieve this level of success again if next years’ editors keep up the work that we continued this year,” Golub said. “We’re aiming to earn the online and print Pacemaker awards as well as hopefully earning the VHSL Trophy Class ranking again.”