The Falcon has won the Pacemaker award by the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) for 2014-2015 in the broadsheet category for newspapers of 17 or more pages for the second consecutive year.

The award, the top honor in scholastic journalism, is given by the NSPA to only a small number  of newspapers and magazines each year. According to judges, the Falcon was given the award based on “exceptional reporting, writing and coverage of school and community. Balanced organization and great use of photos and art to aid storytelling.”

This year, there were only six finalists in the broadsheet category and only three of them received the Pacemaker, which was announced at the fall NSPA conference in Orlando, Fla., on Nov. 15.

“In sports you compete against other teams to see how good your team is,” newspaper adviser Mike Tyler said. “In journalism you don’t do that necessarily, but this is the closest it gets.”

This is the first time the Falcon has won Pacemaker for two consecutive years in the category of broadsheet 17 or more pages.

“I'm so proud of our staff for winning pacemaker,” said 2015 editor-in-chief Amy Lin, who now attends Carnegie Mellon University. “We all do work really hard to produce issues with good content and it's really satisfying to see our efforts pay off.”

Another local school publication to win the Pacemaker this year is Palo Alto High’s Verde magazine.