When Nalani Jordan was a kid in Basin, she’d get on her bike, ride around town, go to the library and read National Geographic magazines. Once a week, she’d purchase a copy of the newspaper, sit down and read it. 

She said she’s always been interested in the news, from local to global. Since those youthful days, she then moved to Powell, joined Powell High School’s The Prowl newspaper as a sophomore and this year has served as the paper’s editor. 

“I have been into journalism for a very long time,” Jordan said, adding that when she started at The Prowl, “I really fell in love with the process.”

To top it all off — she was recently awarded as the top student journalist in the state. 

Jordan was recently named the Wyoming Student Media Association Journalist of the Year for 2026, which comes with a $500 college scholarship for her to take with her to Brown University, where she plans to study modern media and continue her successful wrestling career. 

“I think it's a great honor,” she said. “It was a pretty big process, but now I move on to the national and that'd be really cool to win too.”

Jordan earned the most prestigious Wyoming high school journalism honor through her large body of work, which crossed multiple journalism genres for Powell High School’s student newspaper, as well as photography. She wrote stories such as one following Gonazalo Anzurez, now a high school freshman, who despite being paralyzed in an accident, was able to hunt successfully last season. 

“The WSMA Board would like to congratulate Jordan, who displayed impressive and dedicated work in her cumulative portfolio,” the organization said in its announcement. “We are proud to support student journalism in Wyoming, and wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors.”

Despite also keeping up with sports and maintaining her class’s top GPA, she also worked as an intern last fall at the Tribune, writing a number of stories and filling pages with pictures, from sporting events to Powelloween. 

An athlete, Jordan said when she initially joined the student paper she focused on sports stories, but later fell in love with human interest stories, something she continued while at the Tribune. 

Her portfolio will be submitted to the Journalism Education Association Student Journalist of the Year competition, where she will compete with winners from numerous other states for the title of National Student Journalist of the Year. 

Jordan was advised in her journalism program by Powell’s Amy Moore. In October, Powell’s student newspaper, The Prowl, was the All-State Champion Newspaper in the 3A/4A category.  

Jordan was a big piece in the puzzle of the award-winning newspaper this year, but her success was built on years of effort. 

“I think Nalani set her sights on reaching these journalistic goals early on,” Moore said. “Even during her sophomore year as a reporter, she was locked in and had a course mapped out to lead her to all the recognition she's now received.”

Moore said Jordan took a college photography class during her junior year to augment her journalism skills, and with a full course load, Moore said Jordan “basically audited journalism, opting to show up and fulfill her section editing responsibilities without receiving course credit.”

That work paid off, as Jordan was selected as Wyoming's representative for the Al Neuharth Free Spirit conference in Washington, D.C., last year, winning first place for photography at the State WSMA convention. 

“I'm incredibly pleased with all that Nalani has accomplished, and knowing her, she's just getting started,” Moore said. “We can't wait to see what she does collegiately and beyond.”