“40% of people avoid the news because it’s a bummer.” While unsurprising, the stat from the Digital News Report 2025 (Reuters Institute, University of Oxford) makes this journalist cringe. Still, I completely get it.

Instead of going about our lives day to day, it often seems like we are moving from one stunning unprecedented moment to the next, instead. That isn’t a prediction; it’s an observation.

In NiemanLab’s “Predictions for Journalism 2026” – a collection of 150-plus predictions on the industry of journalism, made by digital media professionals and experts – there are those you might expect: thoughts (positive and not) on AI’s current and future impact; how vertical video and social media have changed things; where DEI and cultural competence fits in today’s world; and the state of local news.

“Local newsrooms will play more.” That prediction caught my eye upon my second or third time through the project’s interactive webpage.

For better or worse, Volume One is many things all at once. Like you, me, and everyone/everything else, it has evolved from what it started out as. Good or bad, it’s always kept its focus on the Chippewa Valley. The publication in your hands doesn’t run anything that isn’t tied to this area, and that hyper-local focus hasn’t worked for a lot of publications across the country. Here, though, it is precisely why it works.

In your hands (and for online readers, before your eyes), you hold Volume One’s 19th annual “Best of the Chippewa Valley Reader Poll” issue. It’s one of few that gets a specialty glossy cover; that is completely photographed and designed by our own team (most issues feature sick work by other local artists); that doesn't have our usual articles and, instead, highlights the local people, places and things you voted as your favorites.

This year’s theme is multifaceted. We got to thinking about the competition and camaraderie and conversation intertwined in games, sports – and life.

To that end, I think I speak for the crew when I say, we are so ready to play more. Ready for more community. More camaraderie. More conversation. More joy.

Here’s to the 19th Best Of, and whether your favorites are in here or not, make sure you give ‘em your love all the same. That's sportsmanship, baby.