{"id":29550,"date":"2026-10-30T21:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T02:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/?p=29550"},"modified":"2026-11-07T14:28:57","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T20:28:57","slug":"2026-magazine-pacemakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/2026\/10\/30\/2026-magazine-pacemakers\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Magazine Pacemakers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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ACP names top student collegiate magazines<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Prestigious competition recognizes 11 Pacemakers as the \u201cbest of the best\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nov. 7, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

KANSAS CITY, MO. \u2014 Honoring the nation\u2019s best, the Associated College Press named TK student magazine as winners of its prestigious Pacemaker during an awards ceremony at the Fall National College Media Convention<\/strong><\/a> in Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Pacemaker is the association\u2019s preeminent award,\u201d executive director Laura Widmer said. \u201cACP is honored to recognize the best of the best.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prestigious Pacemaker recognizes overall excellence and distinguishes the top student media produced during a particular school year. The award started shortly after the association was founded in 1921 and is often regarded as the most-competitive, most-honored award in collegiate journalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August, 39 magazines were named Pacemaker finalists.<\/a> The finalists represented 15 states. California, North Carolina and Oregon set the pace with five finalists each followed by Florida and Virginia with four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Magazines competed in feature\/general audience and literary arts divisions. Magazines produced at four-year and two year institutions competed in separate categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three judges, with extensive magazine-editing and advising experience, studied each entry discussing and analyzing its strengths and weaknesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gary Lundgren, ACP associate director and coordinator of the Pacemaker competition, noted the quality of the winning student magazines rivals those produced by professionals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe verbal and visual storytelling in the winning magazines is incredible and robust long-form stories combined with shorter quick-reads to pace the reader through the pages of the feature magazines,\u201d Lundgren said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd the creativity displayed in the literary arts magazines is incredible \u2014 the unique formats and creative designs make the magazines themselves a work of art,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fall 2026 awards<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Fall 2026 Pacemakers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broadcast
<\/a>Innovation
<\/a>Magazine<\/a>
Multiplatform
<\/a>Newspaper\/Newsmagazine<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2026 Individual Awards<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Story of the Year
<\/a>Reporter of the Year
<\/a>Multimedia Story of the Year
<\/a>Design of the Year
<\/a>Photo of the Year
<\/a>Cartoon of the Year
<\/a>Broadcast Story of the Year<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best of Show<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Individual Recognition
<\/a>Staff Recognition<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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2026 Feature\/General Audience Magazine Pacemakers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

listed by state<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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El Sol
<\/strong>Southwestern College (CA)
Editors-in-chief: Valeryah Lara-Urrea, Yanelli Zavina Robles
Advisers: Max Branscomb, Kenneth Pagano<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Best of Boone
<\/strong>Appalachian State University (NC)
Editor-in-chief: Meg Frantz
Adviser: Leigh Tauss<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ascend
<\/strong>University of Oregon
Editors-in-chief: Jay Bramhall, Grace Mangali
Adviser: Ivan Miller<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Ponder
<\/strong>Black Hills State University (SD)
Editors-in-chief: Alec Butterfield, Nathan Feller, Noah Westergaard
Advisers: Justin Bergh, Skott Chandler, Allen Morris<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SMU Look
<\/strong>Southern Methodist University (TX)
Editors-in-chief: Chloe Gjuraj, Cristiana Montalvan
Advisers: Andrea Arterbery, Jenny B. Davis<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

2026 Literary Arts Magazine Pacemaker finalists<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

listed by state<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WALL Literary Journal
<\/strong>Saddleback College (CA)
Editor-in-chief: Aidan Hunt
Adviser: Gina Shaffer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Phoenix
<\/strong>Valencia College (FL)
Editor-in-chief: Staff
Advisers: Meg Curtiss, Jackie Zuromski<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Bridge
<\/strong>Bridgewater State University (MA)
Editor-in-chief: Katherine Knapp
Advisers: Alain Blunt, Jessica Melendy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Peel Review
<\/strong>Appalachian State University (NC)
Editor-in-chief: Ember Jones
Adviser: Leigh Tauss<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Windhover
<\/strong>North Carolina State University
Editor-in-chief: Josie Headley
Adviser: Ray Black III<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Volition
<\/strong>George Mason University (VA)
Editor-in-chief: Natalia Romero
Adviser: Jason Hartsel<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ACP names top student collegiate magazines Prestigious competition recognizes 11 Pacemakers as the \u201cbest of the best\u201d Nov. 7, 2026 KANSAS CITY, MO. \u2014 Honoring the nation\u2019s best, the Associated College Press named TK student magazine as winners of its prestigious Pacemaker during an awards ceremony at the Fall National College Media Convention in Washington. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29550"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29550"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29900,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29550\/revisions\/29900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}