The Central Focus, Francis Howell Central (FHC) High School’s student-led newspaper, has placed in the 2012 Weekly Reader Student Publishing Contest as best student publication.

Weekly Reader's judging panel selected five winners out of nearly 700 entries in the annual nonfiction writing and publishing contest for students in grades 3 through 12. The winners—two individual students and three student publications—will be celebrated at the Student Publishing Awards Luncheon on June 5 in Washington, D.C. Claudio Sanchez, education correspondent for National Public Radio (NPR), will be the guest speaker.

The Central Focus began as a simple editorial which has evolved over 14 years of production into two successful scholastic press publications. The Central Focus is a lively periodical that informs and engages the local community. Through its strong online presence and print format the Central Focus has continues to inform and engages readers.

Originally a simple black and white newspaper, in 2007 the paper was developed into a 28 page color newsmagazine and later into an online multi-media news publication, FHCtoday.com. FHCtoday.com was born out of the desire to better connect with the school, its students and its staff. Per its mission statement, it allows the Central Focus to "deliver news in a timely manner, showcase much more content, inform students of school and community events, maintain a more comprehensive coverage of our sports teams and generally keep people up to date with what's going on at Francis Howell Central High School today.

The goal of the Student Publishing Contest is to encourage children to experience journalism, multimedia communications, and publishing first-hand, and to nationally showcase the exceptional talents of young writers.