When we took our roles as Co-Editors-In-Chief in winter of 2024, we had plans of growing The Observer, building connections and trying, to the best of our ability, to honor the history of this 110-year-old institution. What we never expected is that during our tenure we would have to fight to keep it alive.

Last year’s situation regarding severe cuts to many different programs, the effects of which we are still dealing with, was one of the most stressful, challenging and gratifying experiences either of us have gone through. Because yes, we fought hard to keep this paper alive, and it took every single person at both The Observer and PULSE to do it, but we couldn’t have done any of it without all of you.

Meeting and getting to talk to all of you at the protests and budget meetings last year gave us the motivation to keep fighting, and is honestly the main reason The Observer is still here today. It is also the reason we were even able to get a nomination for, and place as a finalist for this incredibly prestigious award.

Because just a few weeks ago, the combined leadership of both The Observer and PULSE Magazine were recognized nationally as the only finalists for the prestigious Reveille Seven Courage in Student Journalism award for the coverage, advocacy and protests we organized in response to the proposed defundings of our publications last year.

This would not have been achievable without the unwavering support of everyone who showed their faces or even just reposted to social media our message fighting to keep student media alive at CWU. 

The 400+ signatures from students, staff and alumni on our petition showed the importance of keeping a student press on campus and it is difficult to put into words the immense gratitude and thanks we have to everyone who has joined us along this journey. 

When we had a chance to go to the 2024 Associated Collegiate Press conference in New Orleans almost exactly a year ago, the previous winner of this award spoke about how they were literally arrested for simply covering a political protest. To have our names in the same category as reporters like them is such an honor and a testament to the hard work put in by our team here at not only The Observer, but all of student media. So one last time, thank you to everyone who has supported so far, and we hope you all will continue to support as we do our best to keep The Observer and PULSE alive.