The Feather Online has been awarded a 2020 Online Pacemaker from the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA), April 17.

This year, 28 finalists were recognizes as NSPA Online Pacemaker finalists and The Feather Online is 1 of 1 schools across the nation to receive this prestigious award. The Feather is also one out of two California schools to receive this award along with Scot Scoop. from Carlmont High School in Belmont, CA.

Due to COVID-19, and the cancellation of the 2020 JEA/NSPA spring conference, the awards ceremony was streamed online from Minneapolis, MN.

The National Scholastic Press Association is based in Minnesota as a non-profit educational association which provides journalism education services to students, teachers, media advisers and others throughout the United States and in other countries. The NSPA is also a critique service that is available to its over 1,500 member publications of which The Feather belongs and uses to help improve its media site and journalists’ abilities.

This is the 7th Online Pacemaker award for The Feather Online since its first in 2005/2006. The last time The Feather won an Online Pacemaker was in 2016 but was a finalist in 2018. Congratulations to the staff for all of their hard work which has been nationally recognized.

Thank you to the Fresno Christian administration and community for all of the continued support throughout the years.

The Feather is led by editor-in-chiefs Addison Schultz and Vijay Stephen and co-advisers Kori Friesen and Greg Stobbe.

According to their website, the “NSPA Pacemaker Award has a rich tradition, and the association started presenting the award to high school newspapers a few years after the organization was founded in 1921. Throughout the years, yearbooks, magazines, online sites and broadcast programs were added to the competition.”

NSPA executive director Laura Widmer gives high marks to the Pacemaker’s importance as the following information from the NSPA’s website suggests.

“The Pacemaker is the association’s preeminent award,” Widmer said. “NSPA is honored to recognize the best of the best.”

The 28 Pacemaker finalists represent 12 states. California, Missouri and Texas set the pace with five finalists each.

To determine which of the 28 Pacemaker finalists receive Pacemaker status, judges studied approximately 185 sites submitted from 30 states and three countries in 2020. The number of entries dropped slightly from 2019 when approximately 200 sites completed.

The sites competed in two categories, based on school population: above 1,500 students and the second category below that mark. Two teams of three judges studied every entry and analyzed its strengths. The status of each entry was agreed upon by at least two of the three judges.

In this competition, only the online news product was judged. The news sites were either digital companions to print newspapers and newsmagazines or online-only products. In all, 108 sites were digital companions to print newspapers and newsmagazines and 78 were online-only products.

Congratulations to all recipients and nominees!

For more information on NSPA, visit their website or read The Feather latest article:  NSPA’s online panel shares advice for editorial leadership during COVID-19.

For more Feather photos, visit media, photos 2019-20.