As 2025 comes to a close and 2026 blossoms, I’m proud (and honestly a little emotional) to say I’ve officially served as OutFAU’s Executive Editor since October 2024, and now for another full semester. This year has been busy in the best way: loud, queer, creative, occasionally chaotic, and always community-powered.

OutFAU is not just a newspaper. It’s a space where LGBTQ+ students and allies can feel seen, informed, and reminded that we belong here — on this campus, in this community, and in every conversation that tries to forget us.

So before we do anything else: thank you. Thank you to our parent org, OutSFL, for keeping the lights on and the mission sharp. Thank you to our advisors for the steady guidance (and the gentle “hey… maybe this story needs a lede and nutgraf” moments). Thank you to our writers who showed up with curiosity and courage. Thank you to our sponsor, PRISM, and ad buyers for believing student media is worth investing in. And most importantly, thank you to our readers. Every issue you pick up, every story you click, every post you share, every time you tell a friend “you HAVE to read this” — that’s what keeps us alive. That’s what keeps this movement going.

Looking back on 2025 (not including December), we published eight issues, created 64 Instagram posts, and shared 122 Instagram stories. We had eight different writers, 15 different print advertisements, two designers, and four advisors supporting the work behind the scenes. We secured one new sponsorship, distributed print issues at two distribution points, held three in-person meetings, and still managed to win 10 different awards. That’s not just a list of stats — it’s proof of consistency. Proof that even in a semester full of deadlines, stress, classes, jobs, and life happening at full volume, OutFAU kept showing up.

And now, as campus slows down and the walkways get quiet, we’re finally doing something we’ve been excited about for months: bringing you our long-awaited, first-ever Your Choice Awards. Over the summer, OutFAU launched a reader-driven celebration of the people, places, and organizations that make our campus life brighter, funnier, safer, and more connected. We took nominations, opened voting early in the semester, and then waited (patiently… mostly) to see who would take home the crown. Now they’re finally here. Flip to Page 2 to read about the awards, why we made them, and how your voices shaped what made the list.

Because that’s the whole point, right? OutFAU isn’t something we make for you in a vacuum — we make it with you. Your attention is a vote. Your engagement is a signal. Your joy is a headline. And in a world that constantly tries to shrink queer stories down to stereotypes, footnotes, or “hot takes,” it matters that we’re still here telling the truth — campus-sized, community-centered, and unapologetically ourselves.

In this issue, you’ll read:

• YCA Winner: Best Campus Club (Page 4)
• YCA Winner: Best Student Activist (Page 4)
• YCA Winner: Best Place To Workout (Page 5)
• YCA Winner: Best Kept Campus Secret (Page 5)
• YCA Winner: Best LGBTQ-Friendly Non-Profit (Page 6)
• This Season, Queer Joy Isn’t Up for Debate (Page 6)
• Not So Wonderful: The Wiz, Black Joy, And The Laughter That Didn’t Sit Right (Page 7)

So take this issue with you into winter break. Read it slowly. Read it with your favorite snack. Read it between naps, road trips, work shifts, and whatever else December throws your way. Let it remind you that there is so much good happening here, so much talent, humor, heart, and resilience in our community.

From all of us at OutFAU: have a safe, restful, joy-filled winter break and early January. And we’ll see you in February with our first issue of 2026 — ready to keep building, keep reporting, and keep making space for queer stories that deserve the front page.

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