Village News receives Golden Quill Award

BONSALL – Village News is a recipient of the 2022 Golden Quill Award by the California School Boards Association in recognition of outstanding education journalism. This honor highlights the essential role journalists play in increasing understanding of the objectives, operations, accomplishments, challenges and opportunities related to public schools via fair, insightful and accurate reporting.

Julie Reeder, publisher of Village News, will be presented a Certificate of Excellence in Reporting by the Bonsall Unified School District Board of Trustees at the next regularly scheduled meeting, Sept. 13 at the Bonsall Community Center. CSBA will publish a complete list of the 15 awardees on its website and in the winter edition of California Schools magazine.

School districts and county boards of education nominate journalists for the Golden Quill Award by highlighting work where the nominee demonstrated a holistic understanding of the local educational agency and its stakeholders. Nominees must understand the district's mission, goals and strategic vision during the reporting process and have developed relationships with trustees and relevant district and site-level staff.

Public education is a cornerstone of our country's civic institutions, and strong journalism illuminates the critical issues facing local schools. Julie Reeder and staff at the Village News are recognized by BUSD for ongoing coverage of academic, athletic, artistic and operational developments at all Bonsall schools (Bonsall Elementary, Bonsall West, Vivian Banks, Sullivan Middle, Bonsall High and the Bonsall Virtual Academy).

Reeder said, "I appreciate this award more than ever. It has been a complicated past two years and presenting news stories with both the school district's side and the parents' and students' side has been a challenge. We are all facing and navigating new issues that we haven't faced before as far as mandates, off-site academics, students' rights, teacher rights', etc. So I really appreciate the validation. I'm very proud of our staff, which is very conscientious in representing both sides."

"Bonsall Unified School District is pleased to formally acknowledge the meaningful reporting of the Village News. Julie Reeder, Lucette Moramarco, Joe Naiman, Shane Gibson, and Rick Monroe have been instrumental in fostering effective relationships between our schools and the community by keeping our constituents informed about initiatives, challenges, and accomplishments. BUSD appreciates the Village News supporting our mission to empower all students to achieve their maximum learning potential in our small, yet strong, district," said BUSD Board President Larissa Anderson, who submitted the Village News nomination.

Submitted by Bonsall Unified School District.