Falcon soon to be wearing a ‘Crown’

A constant buzz of activity almost always occupies Room 303, filled with students transcribing interviews, doing layout and typing up articles for the Falcon newspaper or the Talisman yearbook.

Recently, the hard work of the 2010-2011 Falcon staff was recognized by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA). The staff was nominated for a national award in the Crown competition, meaning it will win either a Gold or Silver Crown in a ceremony in March at CSPA’s spring conference in New York.

The CSPA created the Crown Awards to recognize student publications, both print and online, for “overall excellence.” At the end of each year, a panel of judges gathers at Colombia University to assess all Crown Award applicants on all aspects of publication including composition, layout, reporting, photography, writing and editing. The first Crown Awards were given in 1982 as Gold Crowns, and the Silver Crown awards followed shortly after beginning in 1984, according to the CSPA website.

The Crowns being awarded to the 2010-2011 school year publications will be presented in March 2012 to 56 magazines, 56 newspapers and 92 yearbooks.

“I was incredibly happy to find out the Falcon had been nominated for the award,” said alumnus Uttara Sivaram, the editor-in-chief of last year’s fourth-period Falcon staff. “It’s such an honest and insightful high school publication, and so many students put a lot of effort into it.”

The Falcon has been nominated for the Crown Awards eight times in the past 10 years, receiving mostly Silver Crowns. Recipients of the Crown Award are given a plaque and recognition as one of the top high school publications in the country.

Journalism adviser Mike Tyler believes that last year’s staff delivered a consistent paper with several strong points, which made it a strong contender for the Crown Awards.

“I think [last year’s staff] did a really good job on their front pages. The opinion section also impressed the judges, and so did [art editor and junior] Joanna Lee’s editorial cartoons,” Tyler said.

Sivaram considers herself lucky to have had such a talented staff last year; she says it made her job as the editor-in-chief “pretty easy.”

“Although we sometimes struggled to meet deadlines, I think the reporting and writing was always of high quality,” Sivaram said. “The art and graphics that accompanied these articles were as important and really improved the readability and style of the overall paper.”

A news editor last year, alumnus Kevin Mu believed that strong writing was the key to creating a successful paper.

“I think last year the staff wrote articles that were really in-depth and well-reported,” Mu said. “To me, thoroughness is the most important element of any story, so I was very proud of the staff.”

All of the winning high schools are featured on a CD that serves as an example to many publications and is sent out to all CSPA members, according to Tyler.

“It’s kind of fun to have your school featured in [the CD],” Tyler said, “but it’s more just the recognition of having done some top-quality work.”

The 2010-2011 Falcon staff was also awarded the coveted Pacemaker Award from the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) earlier this year. The CSPA and NSPA are two of the most prominent high school press associations, according to Tyler.

Recognition for last year’s Falcon staff was well-deserved, Mu believes.

“I’m just really happy to see that all the hard work that the staff put in last year was appreciated by the Crown panel,” Mu said. “I know I was extremely proud of the effort everyone gave.”