On Wednesday, Coppell Student Media was announced as a National Scholastic Press Association Online Pacemaker finalist.
High school news sites showing high-quality journalism are selected as NSPA Pacemaker finalists. It is one of the highest awards in high school journalism. Pacemaker recipients will be announced April 18 in Minneapolis at the JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism Convention.
“I don’t think awards fully reflect the work of the staff in the program,” The Sidekick adviser Chase Wofford said. “Hard work is rewarded with recognitions like this, but I do think so much more goes into a story, a newspaper and all the content you see on our website that I don’t think an award truly represents, but it is a nice honor I know means a lot to the staff working so hard every day.”
Members of The Sidekick have worked hard for the recognition.
“Our work has definitely paid off pretty well,” The Sidekick editor-in-chief Yug Talukdar said. “I really appreciate all of the effort that’s been put in by staff members who really do care about the program and have helped expand its boundaries, become what it is today and set that standard for this year and also the years to come after.”
Additionally, Coppell’s KCBY-TV’s Spanish show was nominated as an Innovation Pacemaker finalist.
This is the first time the Spanish show was submitted for a Pacemaker. KCBY-TV adviser Irma Lazos-Kennedy has submitted the weekly English show for a Broadcast Pacemaker. However, Lazos-Kennedy thought of another opportunity.
“I think it was last year I started thinking, ‘This is an Innovation Pacemaker, so this is an opportunity to submit work that you are doing to reach a different audience,’” Lazos-Kennedy said. “And I thought to myself, ‘The students have been producing this show since 2007.’ And I’ve never submitted it for any contest from the National Scholastic Press Association, so I thought to myself, ‘Let’s do it.’ So we submitted it, and to be recognized as one of the only finalists for a broadcast in the Innovation category means a lot.”
The KCBY Español show is not only produced by Spanish-speaking students, but also advanced Spanish speakers and students taking AP Spanish classes. The students sometimes interview sources in Spanish.
“They’re having to translate,” KCBY I adviser Steven Jones said. “They’re having to do a lot of extra work, beyond what they normally do for KCBY. So it’s a pretty cool recognition for them.”
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