Mark Hilburn has taught journalism for 15 years at Millard West High School in Omaha, Nebraska, where he advises the MWHS Wildcat News Broadcast, Catalyst Newspaper, Prowler Yearbook, Uproar Radio and Wildcat Sports Network live-streaming. Mark is also an adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska Omaha where he teaches Media Writing and Public Speaking Fundamentals while working on his doctoral degree in Educational Leadership. Mark is the past President of the Nebraska High School Press Association, presents and judges at national JEA/NSPA and CSPA conventions and teaches journalism workshops across the country. He is a Master Journalism Educator, Mentor and serves on the Certification Committee through the Journalism Education Association. He holds Master’s degrees in Journalism and Mass Communication and Secondary Education: Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Nebraska. His publications have been Pacemaker, Gold Crown and All-American award winners, received 1st place in the NSPA Best of Show competition, won State Journalism Championships in 2017 and 2014 and State Runner-Up in 2018, 2016 and 2013. Mark advised the 2024, 2022, 2019 and 2018 Nebraska Journalists of the Year, received the Program of the Year/Excellence in Broadcasting Award from the University of Nebraska Omaha the past six years, and was the first school in country selected to patriciate in the High School Radio Project. In 2023, the Millard West was the first school inducted into the Nebraska High School Press Association’s Cornhusker Hall of Fame. Mark was named the 2015 Nebraska Distinguished Journalism Teacher of the Year, in 2019 was the first adviser to receive the Dr. Sherrie Wilson Outstanding Service Award for Journalism, and in 2020, received the Future Administrator Award and Scholarship from the Journalism Education Association. This is his seventh year with WJMC.