The Best of Best of SNO: Our Favorites from 2025–2026

Another school year in the books, and what a year it was for student journalism.

Best of SNO was more popular in the 2025–2026 school year than ever. We received 15,080 content submissions, which averaged roughly 115 stories submitted each day. Of those, we published 2,077 to BestofSNO.com. (You can review what our reviewers are looking for in Best of SNO submissions by reading the publication tips on the website.)

Some stories were joyful while others were heartbreaking. Some managed to provide coverage of state or national events with a solid local angle, while others just highlighted a unique story from their school.

The SNO team spent some time recently looking back over this year’s published stories and selected a few of our favorites.

Always Learning – We’ve shared this one before, but this story has an impact on everyone who reads it. It’s a great example of what journalism can be. If you haven’t checked it out yet, do yourself a favor and add it to your summer reading list!

Anne Battle has Alzheimer’s — And she wants you to know it – Similar to “Always Learning,” this piece demonstrates The Talon staff treating a delicate situation with the care it deserves, while not shying away from telling the sad truth of the story.

ICE presence on Indigenous land opens old wounds – There were plenty of schools in the Minneapolis area covering the ICE operation at the beginning of 2026. The Rubicon staff did a nice job of looking for angles beyond just the day-to-day happenings and exploring one of those topics here.

Futureproof Ep. 1: Ann Davis Vaughan on AI, data centers, the Disneyland of Energy – AI has been a very popular topic this year. This podcast from The Review brings on an expert for a great audio interview. The producers also made sure to attribute the music and contributors in their outro — something our reviewers always appreciate.

Local Legend: From Fan to Icon – The sports coverage that really stands out to our Best of SNO reviewers often involves finding interesting angles beyond the field of play. The LHSToday staff took note of a fan well-known to St. Louis NHL fans and brought his story to their readers.

Editorial: Budget breakdown – We received a lot of great news stories about impending district budget cuts this spring. This editorial by the West Side Story editorial board provides strong context for why the situation developed, and aims some pointed criticism at the district near the end.

Archer creates alternative poetry competition in response to changes to Poetry Out Loud – The Oracle staff was among the first to cover changes the federal government made to the Poetry Out Loud competition this year — and took it a step further by making the story about their school’s response to those changes.

MHS Hosts First Ever District Weightlifting Competition – The best video stories we receive feature original b-roll shot from a variety of distances, angles, and positions. This piece from The Marquette Messenger covered the rarely reported sport of weightlifting, allowing their cameras to get close to subjects and capture excellent footage alongside informative interviews.

‘A two-hour escape’: Inside Savannah Bananas’ record-breaking night at Kyle Field – Sometimes your campus gets lucky. Texas A&M hosted a Savannah Bananas baseball game earlier this year, and The Battalion staff secured press access — resulting in great photos and an excellent story about this nationally popular phenomenon.

A click, a pause, a lawsuit: the debate over student data and i-Ready – The Daycreek Howl staff submitted stories across a variety of categories this year, demonstrating that middle school programs are producing solid student journalism across multiple story types. Kudos to their staff and all the middle schools that submitted to Best of SNO this year — we hope to see more of your work next fall!

Thanks for another great year. Enjoy your summer, and we’ll see you in the fall.