One rainy night in Oklahoma, The Sidekick adviser Chase Wofford sat in his car scrolling through the National Scholastic Press Association’s website, hoping to see Coppell Student Media’s name among the list of Online Pacemaker winners.
Mere moments later, the screen revealed Coppell Student Media’s banner to be among the 12 winners.
On Saturday night, Coppell Student Media received its seventh NSPA Online Pacemaker, its fifth consecutive as well. The Pacemaker Award is one of the most prestigious awards a scholastic journalism group can receive.
“It felt amazing,” The Sidekick executive editor-in-chief Sri Achanta said. “I found out while I was taking my senior pictures and [social media manager] Sameeha took out her phone and she started recording me. It’s so fun to watch and it’s such a good feeling because it was a lot to live up to because last year’s cohort, the seniors last year had won a Pacemaker all three years so we wanted to continue that legacy.”
For the seniors, this moment comes with even more pride as they can now say they have won a Pacemaker Award all three years on staff.
“I was very proud of, not only my contribution, but the work I’ve seen go into production this year because I knew it was Pacemaker worthy, but being recognized obviously feels a lot better,” editorial page editor Aliza Abidi said. “I can have my last year of high school going out on the same level. I was very proud that we were able to make this happen as a staff.”
Judging for an Online Pacemaker is not an easy process, consisting of live judging throughout the school year.
“So Pacemaker awards are hard to get because the judges are very tricky,” Achanta said. “They look at everything on your site and for an Online Pacemaker, that’s something as specific as the file names on your photos. [Executive design editor Avani Munji] and I have been really focusing on those little things.”
This year, the staff had a bigger focus on visual media and clean design.
“Sometimes we forget that we’re making things for our audience,” Munji said. “The more legible, the more readable, the more visually oriented things are, I think that’s how we communicate information best. This year we’ve done a much better job of doing that.”
While this is the fifth consecutive Pacemaker Coppell Student Media has received, the continuity does not mean there is a lack of growth, each staff brings something different to the table every year.
“Each staff has to establish their own kind of identity and certainly their own personality,” Wofford said. “There’s always carry over because people from year to year will be on the same staff, but you’re always bringing in new people and each group of leaders is different. It’s almost like you wipe the slate clean and you start over.”
While the staff is no stranger to this accomplishment, it emphasizes feeling the joy of each new title they receive.
“I know I’m the only one in the room that’s been here since they got their name called for the first time in 2017,” Wofford said. “But I just remember how hard that staff worked and how excited they were and the real emotion of that experience.I don’t want it to become not a big deal to the kids on staff. Don’t let it just be just another award that comes your way and have it be something that you stop and appreciate.”
The recent addition of this award on the walls of D115 newsroom continues to build the legacy of the program as the years go on.
“I mean, it’s phenomenal really,” Achanta said. “It’s just a testament to all of the hard work that we’ve put in. We’re pushing out something that’s different and that’s why we’re able to continue this legacy as all of these other journalism programs start to grow and become better as well.”
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