Falcon wins Pacemaker Award

The Falcon has won the Pacemaker Award from the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) for 2013-14 in the broadsheet category for newspapers of 17 or more pages. 

This prestigious accolade, one of the top awards in student journalism, is only handed out to fewer than 10 schools per category. The winners were announced at the JEA/NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 7.

The NSPA conducts the contest and selects Pacemaker finalists and recipients based on “coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership on the opinion page, evidence of in-depth reporting, design, photography, art and graphics,” according to the NSPA website. 

“It’s been the one [prize] that our staff has had a hard time [getting,] so I never ever expect to get [this] nomination because it’s just so hard,” journalism adviser Mike Tyler said.

According to Tyler, the Falcon has been named a Pacemaker finalist twice before in his 18 years of advising, but this year is the first time the Falcon has actually won the award. Tyler said last year’s Falcon staff tackled some tough, controversial topics and managed to overcome many challenges in order to produce some great issues.

He does not expect the newspaper to be nominated every year, as “it is the equivalent to being in the top 20 teams every year for a college football program, which is hard to do,” he said.

Former Falcon editor-in-chief Samuel Liu said he’s proud of the achievement. 

“A good publication is one that has reporters who are energized and hungry, not who simply translate information into print,” Liu said. “The Falcon [is] that kind of publication.”

Although Liu is grateful for the nomination, he does not view it as approval to move forward, but rather encouragement for future staffs. 

“[The Falcon] is as good as a publication you can find on a high school campus, maybe even on a college campus,” Liu said. “I don’t think we need the validation of a [simple] award to say that.”