A new spot on the walls of D115 awaits a nail and frame, claiming another year of Coppell Student Media winning a National Student Press Association Online Pacemaker award.
Coppell Student Media was named one of the 13 recipients for the 2025 NSPA Online Pacemaker for the eighth time at the JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism Convention in Seattle on Saturday.
This marks the second major national recognition this spring for Coppell Student Media as the program received a Gold Hybrid News Crown Award in March from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, the second Gold Crown for The Sidekick and the seventh Crown Award in the program’s history.
“We’ve had a great foundation built for us by our adviser, [Chase Wofford], especially because we have been winning this award for six consecutive years,” editor-in-chief Sukirtha Muthiah said. “The leadership and mentorship that we had from Mr. Wofford is what propelled us to win this Pacemaker.”
Wofford’s support for the program elevated the drive of staff members to produce quality content.
“It’s such a grind to be part of a newspaper program such as The Sidekick for the tremendous dedication and tremendous time commitment,” Wofford said. “Of course not everyone operates at the same level of work ethic, but we are very fortunate to have leadership and kids at the top that show high standards through their work, showing up every day and dedicating themselves.”
The staff of The Sidekick have developed its skills as journalists, enhancing their ability as student reporters.
“We had a lot of people who were really enthusiastic and excited to be a part of the program, and having that enthusiasm really helps you coach and mentor those people in order to grow,” Muthiah said. “Especially at such a high volume, we’ve had to adapt and learn how to navigate this, and I think we’ve done a really good job of figuring out where people’s strengths are and how we can use those strengths to the best of our abilities.”
The Sidekick and Coppell Student Media has proven to be unique and driven amongst other newspaper programs across that nation through its emphasis on staying local.
“We put a large emphasis on staying local and covering the things that directly affect us rather than global or national issues,” Muthiah said. “Our ability to do that keeps us close to our audience because we are doing this for our beat and for the area that we cover. I think our ability to keep that focus very narrow is something that sets us apart.”
The motivation and work ethic of staff members has elevated the quality of the program.
“I’m especially proud of all of the first-year members who have already become comfortable with the program and are releasing high quality work,” executive managing editor Nrithya Mahesh said. “We’ve taken a lot of pride in our niche and we really focused on looking at features of people and coverage that we haven’t done before, such as featuring the elementary schools.”
With the record-breaking number of members nearly doubling this year in The Sidekick, Coppell Student Media has expanded its potential and quality.
“Our staff has grown physically, but we’ve also grown mentally with all these people on our staff,” executive news editor Sahasra Chakilam said. “There’s so many different talents and we’ve figured out ways where we can put it all together to create a bigger product.”
Although winning awards is beneficial to the program, Wofford thinks The Sidekick’s success relies more on the work ethic and dedication of students.
“I hope that the standard doesn’t change and the standard is not Pacemakers,” Wofford said. “The standard is ethical, quality journalism and student growth, not just into better journalists, but into better people that are prepared for what’s next for them.”
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