The Lancaster Prize was founded in 2021 to recognize excellence in the field of school journalism for seniors at Glendale High School. It was named in honor of Mr. Patrick Lancaster, the legendary teacher, coach and athletic director, who retired from GHS in 2020 and had been the Explosion advisor at our school since 1993.
Seniors who have written for our Explosion website submitted up to four articles for consideration for this year’s award. Their submissions fell under four categories: Features, Opinion, Reviews, and Spotlight.
A panel of GHS teachers then read these submissions, and they ranked them based on the quality of their writing, the clarity of their reporting, and a list of other criteria.
Ultimately, there was a finalist, and at least two semi-finalists, chosen for each category. Then our teacher panelists, along with our entire Nitro Press staff, read and ranked the four finalists, leaving us with our winner for the 5th Annual Lancaster Prize.
Here are the results:
2025 Lancaster Prize Winner
“The AI Art Epidemic Must Be Stopped”
Category: Opinion
2025 Lancaster Prize Finalists
“Mariam Brito Salazar Brings the Right Element to GHS”
Category: Spotlight
Category: Reviews
“The Importance of Armenian Mythology”
Category: Features
2024 Lancaster Prize Semi-Finalists
Features
“Glendale Student Starts Party in Restroom, It Can’t Be Stopped”
“GHS Welcomes New Wellness Center”
Opinion
Reviews
“Review: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves”
“Review: Eternal Sunshine, Ariana Grande”
“Review: Animal Crossing: New Horizons”
Spotlight
“Sydney Koo Has Made Her Mark on Campus”
“Lauren Claire Avelino Will Be Your Best Bud at GHS”
Congratulations to all of our finalists and semi-finalists. We hope that future writers for our news website are inspired by your achievements.
Thank you to our panel of GHS teachers who read and ranked our submissions: Kristina Carbajal, Holly Ciotti, Holly Donohue, Shannon Clark-Reed, Peter Gebeshian, Lala Gevorkian, Lisa Keefer, Sona Postajian, Greta Sukazian and Michael Watter.
Thank you to the members of our 2024-25 Explosion staff, who continue to impress me with the quality of the work they produce every day. I have learned more from them than they could possibly have learned from me.
And thank you to Patrick Lancaster, for his continued friendship, support and guidance throughout the years.
Previous Lancaster Prize Winners
2021
In honor of his indelible contribution to the Explosion website during the COVID-19 pandemic
2022
Category: Reviews
2023
Category: Opinion
2024
Category: Features
