Feather Achievement

THE FEATHER ONLINE JOURNALISM AWARDS

National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA)

The Feather Online is a member of the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) and submits its online newspaper for a critique each year to be judged in a digital newspaper category. Members of the staff and advisers Greg Stobbe and Kori James often attend NSPA national conventions on the west coast during the spring, presenting and attending sessions and workshops. The following is a listing of The Feather’s achievement in national online awards since the first submission in 2005. The NSPA awards its top honors regardless of school size, division or state.

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2021

During its centennial celebration on May 20, 2021, the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) honored The Feather Online as one of the NSPA Top 100 scholastic publications the association has judged during the last 100 years.

Despite only having started to compete nationally for NSPA Pacemaker awards in 2005, Fresno Christian High’s online newspaper is a regular fixture in the NSPA scholastic competitions, and now a legacy publication as a Pacemaker 100 recipient.

2020

The Feather Online is one of 16 high school news sites that the NSPA honored as a 2020 Online Pacemaker in its prestigious Pacemaker competition, April 17. The Spring National High School Journalism Convention in Nashville was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants watched the NSPA -NSPA Live! Best of Show and Pacemaker Awards, April 17. There were 28 finalists and only 16 were awarded 2020 NSPA Online Pacemakers. The Feather Online earned its 7th Online Pacemaker since 2005/06 school year and was one of only two digital newspapers honored from California in 2020.

2018

The Feather Online was honored in San Francisco in April 2018 by the NSPA with an Online Pacemaker Finalist award and fourth place in Best of Show.

2017

While The Feather did not earn a Pacemaker nomination in 2017, the online paper earned a NSPA First Class with Three Marks of Distinction during the annual critique.

2016

The Feather Online earned its 6th NSPA Pacemaker, April 16, 2016. This is the first time since 2013 The Feather has earned this recognition and winners were announced in Los Angeles at the JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism Convention, April 14-16.

The Feather Online has won six NSPA Pacemakers and earned three other finalist honors (2007, 2009, 2018) since 2006 (Pacemakers: 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2016). The Feather was one of seven schools in the United States to earn an Online Pacemaker in 2016.

2013

For the first time in school history, The Feather Online won an online Best of Show in a national competition. The Feather won NSPA’s Pacemaker and Best of Show in San Francisco in April 2013. This was the fifth Pacemaker for the small school publication and first online Best of Show . Check out the article, slideshow and video of the event.

2012

Traditionally high school journalism’s most decorated achievement, the NSPA awarded The Feather Online its fourth Pacemaker in the spring during the JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention in Seattle, WA, April 14, 2012. The Feather Online has won four Pacemakers in the last seven years of competition and was one of four California schools to do so in 2012.

[/media-credit] Adviser Kori James and The Feather team have taught at both CSPA and NSPA conferences for over 20 years.

2010

The NSPA awarded The Feather Online a third Online Pacemaker during the 2010 NSPA online competition, April 17, in Portland, OR. The Feather was the only California school to earn one.

2009

The paper was named a finalist in the 2009 NSPA Online Pacemaker contest.

2008

Two years earlier, The Feather Online was awarded a 2008 NSPA Online Pacemaker during competition as one of the best high school newspapers in the country, April 19, in Anaheim, CA.

2007

The Feather was a 2007 NSPA Online Pacemaker Finalist.

2006

The Feather Online earned its first Online Pacemaker award in 2006 in San Francisco, CA, in April.

NSPA All-American, First Class honors

2020

The Feather Online earned a First Class with three Marks of Distinction in an NSPA critique, Feb. 11, 2020.

In this NSPA critique, judge Brian Higgins, adviser of the Wingspan online newspaper in Frisco, Texas, said The Feather is described as a news site capable of telling the stories of the students at Fresno Christian.

“The Feather is such an impressive digital publication,” judge Higgins said. “The coverage is wide ranging and in depth with excellent reporting and research. Multimedia is seamlessly interwoven into many stories. Categories are creative and topics are diverse. It is the complete package. In addition to the outstanding coverage, writing, design and photography, what is distinctive is the personal emphasis in concept. This book is all about the students at Fresno Christian School and their lives, their thoughts, their hopes and dreams.”

In Higgins critique, he scored The Feather Online with 477/510 points. The three Marks of Distinction come in Coverage & Content, Interactivity & Community and Breaking News.

“Having judged dozens upon dozens of sites over the years,” Higgins wrote, “there’s no question The Feather’s online publication is one of the strongest ever seen. Featuring tons of content, countless visuals, audio files, and compelling articles that are written well, the students, staff, and community of Fresno Christian Schools should be proud of everything this site provides.”

2018

The NSPA Publication Critique Service awarded The Feather an All-American honor rating in January 2019 as part of it annual review for the 2018 fall semester. Judge Joseph Humphrey reported that The Feather Online is “surely one of the top sites in the country. … The Feather is an impressive, impressive website and has been for quite some time. … I’m especially impressed by how this truly is a student-led enterprise.”

Judge Humphrey awarded the 2018 Feather 478/510 points and Four Marks of Distinction.

While The Feather did not earn a Pacemaker nomination in 2017, the online paper earned a NSPA First Class with Three Marks of Distinction in 2017.

The Feather also earned an NSPA First Class with Four Marks of Distinction in 2016.

[/media-credit] The Feather Online staff earned an Online Pacemaker Award in Los Angeles, April 2016.

On what has become a recent challenge for Feather staffs, the 2015 version once again was honored with by the National Scholastic Press Association with a 6th NSPA All-American rating with four Marks of Distinction in December 2015 for their 6th straight honor.

For the fifth year in a row, Feather editors celebrated with the staff at the National Scholastic Press Association honored The Feather Online with five Marks of Distinction and a NSPA All-American rating in 2014. The Feather also earned NSPA All-American honors in 2013 with five Marks of Distinction.

The Feather Online as an All-American online newspaper in November 2012. The campus paper earned Marks of Distinction in four out of five categories. The previous year, the NSPA awarded The Feather Online as an All-American online newspaper a second time in September 2011. And for the first time in school history, The Feather earned distinctions in all five scoring categories.

The NSPA awarded The Feather Online the honor of “All-American” in November 2010 for the first time in school history. The Feather earned 3,998 out of 4,300 points and earned Marks of Distinction in 4/5 categories.

Journalism Education Association of Northern California (JEANC)

In their annual competition, JEA Norcal honored The Feather Online with the Best of the West First Place website on May 28, 2020. Scroll to the bottom of the article for the announcement or watch the JEANC awards video. The Feather is announced at 46:10.

This is the first time Fresno Christian High’s daily online newspaper and advisers Greg Stobbe and Kori Friesen’s staff have earned this designation for overall excellence in scholastic journalism and online multimedia reporting. The overall competition consisted of 515 entries from 40 publications advised by JEANC members of Northern California regardless of school size or division.

JEANC, a non-profit organization headquartered in Sacramento, CA, is committed to serving scholastic journalism educators and their students. It covers the territory from Bakersfield and Santa Barbara to the Oregon border.

Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA)

The Feather has been submitting to the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) for print and online for over 20 years. The staff and adviser Greg Stobbe have been attending the CSPA national convention at Columbia University since March 1998, often presenting and attending sessions. While The Feather Online is not awarded a CSPA top honor each year, the campus online newspaper has earned 14 Crowns since 2009. The CSPA awards its top qualifying high school publications in the United States, regardless of school size, division or state.

2022

April 2022, Greg Stobbe was honored with CSPA’s highest accolade for advisers, the prestigious Charles R. O’Malley Award for excellence in teaching with a surprise celebration at Fresno Christian Schools. Hundreds in attendance took part is a special presentation hosted by adviser Kori James. Highlighting 25 impactful years as an adviser, Stobbe was surprised with dozens of videos and messages from all over the world recognizing his value in lives of past students. This event was the culmination of his career as a high school adviser.

The Feather team earns a Digital News Silver Crown from Columbia Scholastic Press Association, March 18. CSPA received a total of 816 newspapers, magazines and yearbooks published during the 2020-21 school year for the Crown program. 35 digital newspapers received a gold/silver crown with 11 of these teams based in California.

The 2022 school year is the first time The Feather does not have an editor in chief as most of the team is brand new. Another challenge was the loss of long time Adviser Greg Stobbe who stepped away due to a medical condition allowing Adviser Kori James leads the team alone. This year the judges were sensitive to the challenges COVID-19 raised to student publications and was gracious to include The Feather in their awards program.

2021

With the smallest team in over 10 years and publishing during a global pandemic, The Feather earns a CSPA Digital News Gold Crown. The 2020-21 school year had many challenges to overcome with a global pandemic halting many of the regularly scheduled school activities and programs. FCS began in person with Covid protocols in place Oct. 15, 2020. The year would set out to be one of the strangest years The Feather tea had ever seen. Constant cancellations and unknowns made story-telling a challenge, however the team worked hard to be the voice of FCS.

2020

After not earning a CSPA Crown for the first time in 10 years in 2019, The Feather Online was awarded a Gold Crown as one of only three California schools to earn Columbia University’s highest honor in March 2021 for the 2019-20 school year publication. Out of 849 qualified entries, CSPA honored only nine schools from across the country and only two from California. The Feather earned a CSPA Digital News Gold Crown, March 19, 2021. Watch the CSPA video presentation honoring The Feather at the 1:42:31 mark. Due to Covid-19, the annual CSPA convention was not held in NYC.

In its annual critique, The Feather Online was judged and honored with a CSPA Gold Medalist critique and three All-Columbian designations, Feb. 3, 2020. The Feather received 982/1000 points. The CSPA committee followed up with a summary of The Feather’s prowess with the following statement.

“The Feather is such an impressive digital publication. The coverage is wide-ranging and in-depth with excellent
reporting and research. Multimedia is seamlessly interwoven into many stories. Categories are creative and topics are diverse. It is the complete package. In addition to the outstanding coverage, writing, design and photography, what is distinctive is the personal emphasis on concept.

“This book is all about the students at Fresno Christian School and their lives, their thoughts, their hopes and dreams. It is a personal approach which the staff has succeeded in accomplishing. One cannot help but feel a connection to the school community when visiting this site. That’s what makes it so special. Congratulations on publishing an outstanding digital newspaper and your Gold Medalist and All Columbian honors. The Feather is an exemplar example of a digital news publication.”

2018

The CSPA has honored The Feather Online with a Gold Medalist critique for the 2017-2018 school year, September 2018.

With another publications year nearing an end, The Feather Online earned its sixth straight (eighth overall) CSPA Gold Digital News Crown, during the 94th annual CSPA Spring Scholastic Convention, March 14-16, 2018, on the campus of Columbia University. The Feather was further honored when the CSPA published a Feather video on it website: CSPA Spring Convention 2018 Recap. Besides the 2018 Gold Crown, The Feather also earned a Gold Medalist critique from the CSPA in 2018.

2017

As of March 17, 2017, The Feather Online earned its fifth straight and seventh overall CSPA Gold Digital News Crown, during the 93rd annual CSPA Journalism convention at Columbia University, March 15-17, 2017. The Feather has now won seven Gold Crowns all time and two Silver Crowns since 2009. Earlier this school year, The Feather also earned a Gold Medalist critique from CSPA in 2017.

2016

The Feather Online won its sixth Gold Digital News Crown in during the 92nd annual CSPA convention in New York City, March 18, 2016. The Feather has already been honored with another Gold Medalist critique in January 2016. The CSPA does not distinguish between size of the school, division or state in the competition. The Feather was one of six schools and three from California to earn the award.

The Feather also earned a CSPA Gold Medalist critique in 2016.

2015

For the third year in a row and its 7th Crown (Gold or Silver), The Feather earned its 5th Gold Crown at the 91st annual CSPA convention at Columbia University in NYC in March 2015. The Feather also earned a CSPA Gold Medalist critique in 2015.

Editors Sam Cross and Alex Rurik teach at the CSPA 2018 spring conference, NYC.

2014

The CSPA awarded The Feather Online a fourth Gold Crown in March 2014. This is The Feather’s 6th Crown since 2009 and one of only four Gold Crown awarded at the 90th national CSPA convention and the fourth Gold Crown for The Feather overall.

The Feather also earned a CSPA Gold Medalist critique in 2014.

2013

The Feather Online has earned a Crown from CSPA for the fifth year in a row in 2013. A couple of editors traveled to Columbia University in NYC to accept The Feather Online’s 3rd Gold Crown, during the 89th annual Scholastic Convention, March 22, 2013.

Additionally, The Feather Online earned a Gold Medalist designation, Feb. 27, 2013, from CSPA’s Scholastic News Digital Critique. The Feather received 973/1,000 points and was awarded All-Columbian honors in all three categories: Essentials, verbal and visual.

2012

The CSPA announced its top awards for scholastic publications at the 88th annual Scholastic Convention in Columbia University’s Arledge Auditorium, Lerner Hall, March 16, 2012. For the fourth straight year, The Feather Online was awarded a Crown: Silver Crown.

The Feather also earned a CSPA Gold Medalist critique in 2012. and The Feather was honored with a 2nd Silver Crown in 2012.

2011

On March 18, 2011, Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) honored The Feather Online its highest journalistic honor: an Online Gold Crown–The Feather’s second–one of only two awarded to California high schools.

2010

The CSPA gave The Feather Online its first Online Gold Crown at Columbia University in New York City, March 19, 2010. Columbia Scholastic Press Association honored The Feather Online with a Silver Crown during its annual spring convention in New York City, March 18, 2009. This is the first time the CSPA gave this award.

The campus online paper has earned two CSPA Silver Crowns: its 1st Silver Crown in 2009.