BISMARCK, N.D. (KXNET) — A group of young journalists in North Dakota’s capitol city are receiving national recognition for their work.

Legacy High School’s newspaper — titled ‘Uncut’ — is now leaving a legacy of its own. At a national journalism competition in Boston, they took home the ‘Best of Class’ award.

“We have a legacy now — at Legacy High School,” said Uncut’s Social Media Editor Macie Grendahl.

“We entered last year and actually didn’t place,” explained Journalism Instructor Nick Hornbacher, “so this year, taking first in the country was pretty great. It was awesome.”

Students say they’ve learned many different important skills through the newspaper — including both the ability to respond to criticism and the ability to give reasonable critiques. The team couldn’t stick around for the award ceremony, so they found out about their victory while on their way back home.

“We got off our flight and were in the terminal and we were all just like ‘oh my gosh we won first place’ and it was crazy,” said editor-in-chief Anna Bitz. “We were all crying in the terminal, and all the people around us were like, ‘What is happening?'”

Hornbacher credits their meticulous design and top-tier work from the students for helping them win.

“They do all the work from reporting to writing to design,” he noted. “It’s all student-led and student-done.”

Bitz, meanwhile, says the newspaper team has something beyond just talent. She also hopes that this award will help bring some recognition to the incredible work that the newspaper team does — as well as the importance of having a school newspaper.

“When we are creating it, we are creating it as one,” she stated. “We do it together. We do everything together — we help each other, we grow together, and criticize each other. By having this strong family on our staff, really, everything we do is good because we do it together. There are still people who don’t really recognize a school newspaper as something big, something important. I think that when we’ve won a bigger award than any sport in the school or anything in the state, then they’re like, ‘oh, this is something legit,’ you know?”

The graduating class will be leaving a large gap in the team, with only four underclassmen — but despite this, they believe their legacy of teamwork and unity can continue, with their award serving as proof.