Coppell High School is continuing its hallmark of excellence with another set of awards recognizing the hard work and creativity of its teachers and students.

In October of this 2018 school year, Coppell High School student broadcast programs KCBY and KCBY Español were nominated for eight Lone Star Emmys. The announcement of the nominations came in October and the awards were on Nov. 10 in Dallas, Texas.

Founded in 1955, The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences was created with the purpose of recognizing excellence within productions with the Lone Star Emmy award.

This is KCBYs third year being nominated for the Lone Star Emmys, and both KCBY English and Español were finalists. Adviser Irma Kennedy, and on her 13th year in KCBY.

“I’m grateful that they recognized that Spanish is a different category because when you go to the Emmys with the reporters from the state, which they were there at the award show, they have a category for English and they have a category for Spanish, but I didn’t know when it comes to student awards, they didn’t have it, they just had the show.” KCBY director Irma Kennedy said.

Though Spanish shows are rare, Kennedy was confident in the program. While the number of Spanish submissions are small in number, KCBY Espanol is a group growing of creative writers working to add diversity to Coppell Student Media.

The program’s success did not end there.

On Nov. 15, the program was announced as the winner of the 2018 Pacemaker, a prestigious and national award for scholastic journalism, during the JEA/NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention in Orlando, Fla.

The teams worked day and night preparing their work to be submitted. Pressures were high, as students in the program were up against 14 other programs in the country. All-nighters were pulled and weekends were used to prepare.

“I was so thrilled and it just feels really good knowing that all of our hard work that we did throughout the years paid off –  and I know my fellow directors felt the same way,” said Shania Khan, program director of the KCBY English team said. “We’re all just super excited. We called our directors from years ago and told them that we won. It was just a really good, happy moment.”

Those on the KCBY program continue to impress Kennedy day by day.

“I was extremely proud of the work the kids had done, to know that four years after we were first nominated that these kids are still reaching high to meet the mark that was set before them,” Kennedy said. “It makes me extremely proud that they care, that they are passionate, and they work so hard. It was very well deserved.”

The achievement of these momentous awards is a another mark in KCBYs timeline, and they continue to improve within each year that they are together.

Members of KCBY hope to continue growing and earning more awards as they continue their work in CHS.