Silver Chips wins Pacemaker

Silver Chips won the National Student Press Association (NSPA) Newspaper Pacemaker Award for its 2003-2004 issues on Nov. 20 at the NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention in Atlanta, GA. Chips also won fourth place in the NSPA's "Best of Show" competition for the alumni magazine, Golden Chips.

Chips was one of 23 newspapers to win the Pacemaker. The Pacemaker has been awarded to the top newspapers in the country since its establishment in 1927 and is considered the premier award in high school journalism. Chips won the award for the second time in three years and was the only newspaper to win both the print and online Pacemakers for the 2003-2004 year.

The winners were not announced by category, as has been the NSPA's custom in past years, to eliminate any perceived disparity between differently sized papers, according to NSPA Contest Coordinator Chad Rummel. "We don't want to say that a 17 page paper is any better than a smaller paper," he said. "They're all Pacemaker quality."

Judges from the Atlanta Journal Constitution selected the winners based on coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, design, photography, art and graphics. Silver Chips Online will be judged for the 2005 Online Pacemaker Award in February, which will be announced during the April 7-10 NSPA Convention in Seattle, WA.

For a complete list of NSPA finalists and winners, click here.