Saratoga Falcon wins Gold Crown, Pacemaker for 2013-2014 year

The Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA), an international student press association, released the winners of the Gold Crown award for the 2013-2014 year, and among the 13 schools awarded with the “High School Newspaper Gold Crowns,” the Saratoga Falcon made the list.

The 2015 CSPA Scholastic Crown Awards Ceremony took place on March 20 at Columbia University.  Other local publications that won a Gold Crown include Verde from Palo Alto High School.

The Gold Crown award is awarded to student-run publications, such as a school’s newspaper or yearbook.  In order to win the award, the publication is judged on its overall excellence; this includes writing, photography, design and concept. 
According to the CSPA website, “Crown Awards are the highest recognition given by the CSPA to a student print or digital medium for overall excellence.”

Within the same year, the Falcon also won the Pacemaker Award under the category of “Broadsheet 17 or more pages,” awarded by the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA).  This highly regarded award has been given annually since 1927 and is one of the top awards in student journalism.

“Producing each issue is already rewarding in itself, but having the CSPA [and the NSPA] recognize the Falcon is such an honor,” said  2014 alumna and former editor-in-chief Karen Sung said. “This award reflects each staff member’s contributions to the paper as a whole.”

Sung is especially amazed that the Falcon won the Gold Crown and the Pacemaker in the same year, something the newspaper has never done before.

“It really attests to all of the hard work that we put into the paper as a staff,” Sung said.

Alumni and former editor-in-Chief Sarah Finley also is “proud of the paper for all it has accomplished”.

“I’m so happy to see it be recognized,” Finley said. “It’s a tribute to all of the effort and hard work that the staff and Mr. Tyler put in over the course of the year.  Whether it be the nights stayed late after school to finish a spread or write an extra story, everything made a difference.”

Tyler thinks that the staff’s hard work led the way to the paper winning both awards.

“There’s a lot of tough competition because there are a lot of really good newspapers from many different schools,” Tyler said. “It’s great for all of the staff’s hard work to be recognized.”