St. Joe’s student-produced “Bruin News Now” named Newscast of the Year
MADISON, Miss. (Tuesday, April 1, 2025) – St. Joe’s “Bruin News Now” was named Mississippi’s best high school student newscast, and “JV Bruin News Now” was named best middle school student newscast at the high school student media awards.
Junior Thierry Freeman won for Best In-Studio News Anchor and a co-production newscast by Bruin News Now and Tupelo High School’s WTHS Media covering Gov. Tate Reeves’ 2025 State of the State speech won for Best Longform Story.
“This is an amazing achievement,” said Dr. Dena Kinsey, principal of St. Joseph Catholic School. “These honors our students brought home from the Mississippi Scholastic Press Association speaks volumes to their hard work and talent.
“I am so proud of our student journalists who work unceasingly every week to produce a newscast, webcast live sporting events and create an award-winning yearbook. St. Joe has the best student journalists and high school student media program in the state – no doubt about it.”
The awards were among 25 St. Joseph Catholic School took home from the MSPA spring convention Friday, March 28, on the campus of the University of Mississippi. The awards included eight first-place finishes.
The “Bruin News Now” episode that won Newscast of the Year was filmed on location at the Mississippi Capitol and included coverage of Reeves’ State of the State. It was released on YouTube Friday, Jan. 31, 2025.
The “Bruin News Now” and “JV Bruin News Now” awards for Newscast of the Year are the equivalent of a state championship. St. Joe’s two newscasts won over entries from public and private schools across the state, including several from metropolitan Jackson.
This marked the first time since 2018 that “Bruin News Now” was named the state’s best high school newscast. BNN has been a finalist for the award every year since. This also marked the second straight year “JV Bruin News Now” was named the state’s best middle school newscast.
Hundreds of high school journalists from across Mississippi attended the MSPA convention where they participated in breakout sessions designed to help improve their skills at reporting, interviewing, writing, photography and more.
The day ended with the MSPA awards program. The flagship awards competition, the Best of Mississippi, saw St. Joe compete against private and public high schools statewide. Schools entered student work from the start of the current school year through Feb. 15.
Other major first-place awards for St. Joe included seventh-grader Avery Flood, who won for her JV BNN feature story previewing the 2024 “Gifts of the Season” Christmas concert, and seventh-grader Grace Barbour, who won for her JV BNN story on middle school sports.
St. Joe students also were finalists for News Anchor, Sports Anchor, News Reporter, Sports Reporter, News Story, Feature Story, Middle School Feature Story, Middle School Sports Story, Live Stream Program and Live Stream On-Air Talent.
Bruins also fared well in the separate Best of Show contest. Schools that attended the convention could submit student work in several categories; the work had to be created from the start of the spring semester in January through Friday, March 21.
St. Joe senior Turner Brown took first place in Best News Story for his BNN package covering Reeves’ State of the State speech. And the BNN episode that was filmed at the state Capitol was named Best Broadcast News Show – the second time that episode won an award.
St. Joseph Catholic School, founded in 1870 by the Sisters of Mercy, offers seventh- through 12th-grade students of all faith backgrounds a rigorous college prep curriculum grounded in the teachings of the Catholic Church.
The school, 308 New Mannsdale Road in Madison just west of the Interstate 55-Mississippi 463 interchange, is accredited by the Mid-South Association of Independent Schools and Cognia.
St. Joe students can take Print Journalism, Broadcast Journalism and Sports Broadcasting classes, three of many electives the school offers. Journalism students produce a weekly video newscast, “Bruin News Now”; a Wednesday news update, “BNN Midweek Paws”; a Monday sports preview, “What’s Bruin”; and a school yearbook, The Shield.
Students also webcast home-and-away football games as well as home girls and boys varsity basketball games live on the Bruin News Now YouTube channel. They also produce, staff and host a monthly talk show, “Bruin Talk Live,” webcast live from Sal & Mookie’s Madison.
“I can’t say enough about the excellent work my broadcast students have produced this year,” said Terry Cassreino, a former longtime Mississippi journalist who has taught high school journalism at St. Joe since 2012.
“In many instances, it is hard to believe members of St. Joe’s student media program are just high school students,” he said. “They are dedicated and put in long hours before school, after school and on the weekend to produce an amazing collection of high-quality work.”