The North Carolina Scholastic Media Association has announced Wakefield High School journalist Caroline Rhoad as the 2026 Rachel Rivers-Coffey North Carolina High School Journalist of the Year.
Rhoad is the co-editor-in-chief of the Wakefield High school newspaper, The Howler. Her portfolio featured reporting and writing on national issues that she illuminated with a local lens.
Alternates for Journalist of the Year are Julia Farris of Fred T. Foard High in Newton, Paige Levine of West Brunswick High in Shallotte and Maya Swaggerty of J.H. Rose High in Greenville.
Farris is editor-in-chief of her school’s yearbook, Quatralog. Levine is co-editor-in-chief of her school’s newspaper, the West Wind. Swaggerty is co-editor-in-chief of her school’s newspaper, Rampant Lines.
Since 2001, the North Carolina Press Foundation (NCPF) has funded the annual scholarship award in memory of Rachel Rivers-Coffey, former N.C. Press Association president.
NCPF will award a $3,000 scholarship to Rhoad. The three alternates will each receive $1,000.
The foundation will also award the winners’ journalism programs. The Journalist of the Year’s program will receive $500. The three alternates’ programs will each receive $250.
The Rivers-Coffey state scholarships and awards will be presented June 16-18 during the N.C. Scholastic Media Institute, a summer journalism workshop open to students and teachers across the state.
Rhoad will now represent the state in the National High School Journalist of the Year scholarship competition. Winners will be announced in April at the National High School Journalism Convention in Minneapolis.
https://ncsma.unc.edu/ncsma-news/