For the first time since 2007, The Saratoga Falcon student newspaper has been nominated for a Crown award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.

In March, Falcon staffers will learn whether the 2007-2008 Falcon will receive a Gold Crown, the top award, or a Silver Crown. The Falcon’s editors were Katrin Cooper and Angela Chiang.

Falcon adviser Mike Tyler said, “The award is an honor because the judges view our publication as one of the top 40 or 50 in the country out of all the thousands that are published.”

The Falcon has been nominated for the Crown awards many times, but has not received a Gold Crown award in recent years.

“[The judges] have to draw the distinction somewhere,” said Tyler. “We’ve always been on the side that receives the Silver Crown.”

Although the newspaper staff is hopeful for the Gold Crown winner announcement, Tyler said the competition among the qualified schools is tough. The winners will be announced at Columbia in March.

“A school may win the Gold Crown once in 20 years,” said Tyler, “but it’s very difficult to single out the winners in a given year since all the nominated schools have excellent publications.”

Editor-in-chief Dorey Schranz, “I think it’s great that we’re finally being recognized for all the hard work we’ve put into publishing this paper.”