ACP honors 37 newspapers as 2018 Pacemaker finalists
MINNEAPOLIS — The Associated College Press has named 37 collegiate student newspapers as finalists in its annual Pacemaker competition.
“The Pacemaker is the association’s preeminent award,” said Laura Widmer, executive director. “ACP is honored to recognize the best of the best.”
The 37 newspapers represent 18 states. California set the pace with seven finalists followed by Texas with five.
In all, 165 student newspapers entered the Pacemaker competition, an increase of 15 from the previous year. Entries represented 40 states and Canada.
Two teams of three judges devoted three days to the judging and studied every entry, discussing its strengths and weaknesses.
When the process was finished, the 37 Pacemaker finalists were named. From that group, 11 will earn the Pacemaker award, placing those newspapers in approximately the top seven percent of the entries.
In addition to demonstrating excellence in key areas including coverage, writing, editing, design and photography, the winning newspapers took risks and served as a strong voice for its student audience.
“The best newspapers didn’t just recap campus events, they delivered tenacious in-depth reporting and impartial and objective coverage,” said Gary Lundgren associate director and coordinator of the Pacemaker competition. “With so much happening in our country, it was interesting to see how those stories were reported from a campus perspective.”
Insights and observations from the judges about the Pacemaker winning newspapers will be posted when the Pacemaker winners are announced, along with the names and professional bios of the judges. The judges have provided written summaries about each Pacemaker winner as well as video comments about the process and the entries.
Newspapers competed against those publishing with the same frequency.
Four newspapers from two-year colleges were represented among the 37 Pacemaker finalists.
In this competition, only the print product was judged. Online sites compete in a separate competition. The ACP Online Pacemaker finalists will be announced shortly.
Both print and online Pacemaker finalists will be recognized and the Pacemaker winners announced at the ACP/CMA National College Media Convention, Oct. 25-28, 2018 in Louisville, Ky.
