4 students show off trophies after winning the National Journalism Quiz Bowl, trophy icon in the top right corner

By Allie Staub, National Journalism Quiz Bowl coordinator

Freshmen Nora Ruscoe and Lola Thompson, sophomore Grace Fridy along with senior Brennan Eberwine, from duPont Manual High School in Louisville, Kentucky were named National Journalism Quiz Bowl champions on April 22 at the Spring JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention in San Francisco. 

Students on the winning team represented the Manual RedEye staff — duPont Manual’s online news outlet — and each brought their own expertise to the competition. Eberwine is the RedEye’s editor-in-chief and Fridy is a RedEye staffer. The team is advised by Vanessa Hutchison.

To determine the initial seeding of the 24 competing teams, the teams of four students took an online qualifying test on April 21. The next day, the top 16 qualifying teams met for four rapid-fire buzzer rounds, answering questions pertaining to current events, journalism law and terminology, and civics. The team that scored the highest of 10 questions proceeded to the next round and for the final round, the winner had to score the highest out of 20 questions. 

This was not duPont Manual’s first time, nor these competitors first time competing in the National Journalism Quiz Bowl. duPont Manual previously claimed the trophy in spring 2014 at the national convention in San Diego and the in fall 2014 at the national convention in Washington, D.C.

Eberwine, Fridy and Ruscoe competed on a team at the fall 2022 national convention in St. Louis. They started strong as the No. 2 seed but were knocked out in the Final Four round. Eberwine also competed on duPont Manual’s as a freshman on the fall 2019 team at the national convention in Washington, D.C..

After the St. Louis loss, Fridy and the team were determined to make a comeback in San Francisco.

“We didn’t win that competition,” Fridy said. “However, in this one, after the first few rounds, I realized that we were kind of on par with the other teams because last time we could tell that some of the other teams were ahead of us. We felt prepared and after that I just was confident because I know that our team put in the work.”

The team credits their school’s strong journalism program with helping them to prepare for the competition.

“It helps that in our journalism curriculum, we learn a lot of the terms as a basic part of our intuitive design class,” Eberwine said. “I also think our adviser, Miss Hutchison, prepared a lot of study materials for us and we have a weekly current events quiz. Also Miss Mattingly for telling us all the design terms.”

Eberwine also attributes his success to self-proclaimed “nerdery.”

“I’m also just like a huge nerd if you couldn’t tell,” Eberwine said. “This trophy should say nerd. I love reading current events. I love journalism. I love studying Supreme Court cases.

While Eberewine, Fridy and Ruscoe were seasoned pros, Thompson joined the team in a serendipitous manner.

“They all volunteered at the beginning of the year to be on this team,” Hutchison said. “And then the one that competed with them in St. Louis couldn’t make it to this trip. Lola was kind enough to stand in for this competition.” 

At the outset of the competition, duPont Manual was seeded fifth and challenger Burlingame High School — the runner-up-team — was seeded seventh. Burlingame proved themselves a venerable competitor as they set a new record for tiebreaker questions in their quarter final round against Torrey Pines, going through seven tiebreaker questions to make it to the Final Four.

In the end, duPont beat Burlingame in the final round with a score of 4-2.

“It felt pretty freakin’ good to win,” Fridy said.

The duPont Manual team felt that the knowledge that they’ve gained from preparing and competing in Quiz Bowl will help them beyond San Francisco.

“I feel like a lot of the this quiz-bowl terminology is stuff that I’ve put into use either in the publications at our school or just like at the conference,” Fridy said. 

“You will know your constitutional rights,” Eberwine said.

Ruscoe and Thompson enjoyed the competitive aspects as well.

“It’s fun and you feel so good afterward,” Ruscoe said.

“It’s like sports without running,” Thompson said. 

Teams were from California, Oregon, Colorado, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas.

Lindsay Porter

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