About Us

The Wilson Beacon is an award-winning newspaper that publishes eight times a year, beginning within the first month of school and ending in June. This student-run newspaper aims to be the voice of Wilson.

In recent years, The Beacon has expanded to offer a magazine that is published four times a year, once per advisory.

What began as typed pages of news and gossip when the school opened in 1935 has evolved, along with the professional media, into a training ground for some highly successful journalists.

Former CBS Evening News anchor Roger Mudd wrote for The Wilson Beacon and graduated in 1945. In 2011 he said that he is still “embracing Wilson as the place where we were taught indelibly to accept responsibility for ourself and our actions.” Author, columnist, and New York Times theatre critic Frank Rich graduated in 1967. He recalled his time writing for The Beacon as “fun and instructive,” a place where he learned the nuts and bolts of newspaper and got the inspiration to become a better writer. Derek McGinty, former weekend anchor of WJLA (the local ABC station) and current 9News Now anchor is also a Beacon alum.

The Beacon is located in room 205. If you have any inquiries, interest in purchasing ad space, or (if you’re a student) interest in contributing, email us at [email protected].

Read more about the 2021-2022 Beacon staff here.

Ethics code:

The Beacon realizes that in our fast-paced digital world, the rush to get a story published can sometimes overcome checking for accuracy. We promise to do our best to fact-check our articles, and to be accurate in our reporting. If you believe we as a publication have misrepresented a fact, statistic, or quote, please contact us at [email protected]

Corrections Policy: The Beacon acknowledges that sometimes we make mistakes in our reporting. If you find something to be incorrect, please fill out this form below by clicking this link.