Eastside, Online
Cherry Hill East High School
Each year, the National Scholastic Press Association recognizes excellence in student media with scholastic journalism’s preeminent award, the Pacemaker. Pacemakers are awarded in each category of publication — online, newspaper, yearbook, magazine and broadcast.
Entries are judged by teams of professionals based on the following criteria: coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership, design, photography and graphics.
NSPA contacted Greg Gagliardi, adviser of 2016 Online Pacemaker recipient Eastside Online for a Q&A. Eastside Online is the student-run online newspaper of Cherry Hill High School East in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
NSPA also heard from Gabriella Friedman, Eastside Online’s student webmaster.
NSPA: Tell us a little bit about the editors and staff of your Pacemaker-winning publication.
Greg Gagliardi, adviser: The Eastside Editorial Board consists of 37 students and one adviser. Eastside Online is run primarily by Online EIC Sonia Kim and Webmaster Gabriella Friedman, but everyone contributes one way or another, whether it’s filming a video, updating social media, working on a media package or writing a late-breaking story. Our printed publication, Eastside, has won many accolades, but this group of students — more than any other I have had in my 16 years — was committed to making Eastside Online something bigger and better than it had ever been before.
NSPA: What were the goals going into last year and how did you ensure those goals were met?
Gabriella Friedman, webmaster: Our goals were to report journalism that viewers would want to read. We strived to create creative layouts, infographics, polls, embed tweets and more to make our stories more visually appealing to readers. Our stories were a mix of hard hitting topics and daily reports that were well written.
NSPA: How did the staff ensure the quality of the publication?
GG: Eastside Online contains special stories and packages that cannot be read in Eastside. Ranging from a package on our school’s LGBTQ+ community (which received over 20,000 views in a month) to interviews with all of the spring coaches, the material on Eastside Online is timely and interactive. We try to have something for everyone online, and our social media — including nearly 2,000 Twitter followers and nearly 3,000 Facebook fans — drives people to the site almost daily.
NSPA: Is there any one issue, story, package, etc. that stood out during the year?
GG: Definitely our “The New Genderation” coverage, which focused on students who are transgender, pansexual and other members of the LGBTQ+ community. This coverage gave these students a chance to express themselves through both written and video coverage. It helped show people an aspect of school that they likely knew little about, and it did so in a way that was bold and honest. We received a great deal of feedback regarding the coverage, and it gave people — faculty and students alike — a lot to talk about.
NSPA: What qualities will you remember the most about this Pacemaker-winning staff?
GG: This is our first Online Pacemaker, so that alone makes it extra memorable. More so, though, this is a group of students with high goals and high expectations, and they really came through with their promises.
NSPA: What does the Pacemaker mean to you and your staff?
GG: We already felt like our hard work has paid off even prior to the Pacemaker, but the Pacemaker really magnifies everything for us and shows the school and the community that we are certainly not a typical online publication. No one will ever be able to take the 2016 Online Pacemaker away from us, and that’s awesome. The Pacemaker gives us extra confidence and makes us want to try even harder. As a New Jersey publication, we are happy to represent our state and even the Northeast.
GF: The Pacemaker is a prestigious award that shows that hard works and dedication truly pay off. The award encouraged me to make our website even better with each story and media package.
