2008 NSPA YEARBOOK PACEMAKERS
Judges’ Comments (posted in February): http://studentpressblogs.org/nspa/?p=48
2009 NSPA ONLINE PACEMAKERS
Judges’ Comments:
Gargoyle: This is a beautiful piece of web journalism. The design and color palette are clean and simple. The rotating Flash module at the top of the page gives a lot of information in little space. The images throughout the site were good and well used. Other good elements of the site include: Upcoming events, sports updates, comments, staff blog, polls and video. The live blog from the Oscars also really stood out in my mind as going above and beyond for a high school newspaper. The Mixtape was another great use of technology. What a great idea for using audio – and also something a high school audience has a great level of interest in.
FHNtoday.com: Beautiful division of content. I love the video spot right up at the top right. The podcasts are great. They are both entertaining and informative. The Flash module is a great way of getting several stories “above the fold.” You were one of few publications using Soundslides. Super props for that. This kind of multimedia storytelling is really the future. Having those skills in high school is a great accomplishment. Continue to build on those skills. The slideshows are also beautifully displayed and managed. Wow. I would like to see the photos in the slideshows more integrated in the story pages and throughout the site.
Knight Errant: Mostly clean and simple. I like the modularity of the site. It makes it easy for me to get through. I like seeing the print edition cover on the homepage. I like the sports calendar with results. I like the polls and blog. The crossword puzzle is awesome.
El Estoque: I love the most popular tab at the upper right. This gives a sampling of stuff on the site. Slideshows, multimedia, stories — These are ways of getting everything up top. The dodge ball piece is a fun way to display photos. The sounds add to it. I would love to see the great photos from the slideshows and multimedia pieces integrated throughout the pages on the site.
SMES Express: Nice division of content. Good integration of polls, vimeo and photos. Excellent job of using photos throughout the site – not just on the homepage. You have them on the subchannel pages as well as the story pages. That’s no easy feat. The photography is also quite good. I also like the fact that you can comment on stories. This provides excellent interactivity.
HiLite: It’s not flashy and overdone like some high school websites. It’s really quite simple, and that makes the viewer’s experience enjoyable. The videos contained great reporting. Other items on the site worth noting: Twitter feed, photo of the day, photo galleries, blogs, nice story ideas. I was glad to see hard news being covered when a student died. That’s tough stuff to cover at the high school age, but it’s important to the study body to be informed about such an event. The “Peek in the Bag” feature was also fun and different.
Wayland Student Press: Nice online video presence. I really enjoyed the About Us video. It has some neat editing and personality. This website is deep and filled with great content. Nice galleries. Nice story topics.
The Feather: The site has lots of great elements. I like the dominant visual. It’s a nice big picture that tells you right where to go. Don’t be afraid to let the photo speak for itself. I like the poll on the homepage and the feature photo element.
Trident Online: I like the rotating top module. I think the photo editing on this module was great. The stories were interesting. Nice photo galleries. I like the fact that you can make comments on the stories. Keep up the video efforts.
Harbinger: Great, clean design. I wish the top module changed as you clicked through the main navigation bar. It stays the same, but the content underneath it changes. If you aren’t paying close attention, it’s hard to tell you’ve navigated to a new page since that top module stays the same. Nice story ideas. Good photographs. Nice photos and slideshows.
The Mustang Express: The front page could benefit from a dominant visual, but there is a lot of good things going on here. Good stories. I like the poll. I like the belt with several different interesting links on it.
King’s Courier: I like the simplicity of this site. It’s clean and easy to navigate. The content is strong. It’s amazing the amount of multimedia some high school papers are pulling off, and this year the bar is set really high when it comes to interactive elements.
Redwood Bark: Great division of content. Nice stories. Good work on the videos. I also like the “current issue cover” photograph on the homepage.
Edsman: Incredible design. I expect this site to be a top contender next year if you continue to feed it with great content. It’s off to an incredible start. Love the dominant visual, the navigation, the weather and world news widgets. Keep it up. You’re on the right track.
The Paly Voice: This is one of very few high school newspapers using Soundslides on their website. The productions are informative and well done. I liked the Voicecasts, Voice videos and other multimedia elements on the site. Love the tabs of Most Read and Most Discussed stories at the top. It’s one other way of navigating the site and getting to the “good stuff.”
2008 NSPA MAGAZINE PACEMAKERS
Judges’ Comments:
Dark as Day: This magazine exhibited stunning and innovative color photographs whose artists displayed a wide range of talent. The broad range of art along with the appealing layout of the magazine showed the students put a consistent level of dedication into their work.
Chasms: This entry is consistent with a clean design throughout. The wide variety of prose, poetry, and photographs show an impressive range of talent. After turning each page we were surprised not only by the level of skill shown in this magazine, but the clear commitment with which the staff showcased their fellow students’ work
Maret Literary and Visual Arts: The elegant layout of this magazine didn’t remind us of a high school literary magazine. If anything, we felt we were judging a professional work. The photographs within this magazine were exquisite, offering both simplicity and elegance to the reader. The black-and-white images provided a level of sophistication that few other magazines achieved.
Rapier: The design in this magazine is simple but inventive-the die-cut hole in the center provided an interesting concept: that one could peek into the magazine and explore it at one’s whim (supplying a playful tone without being overly cute). The illustrations were well done and it was evident that the editors thought carefully how each prose/poetry piece was matched in turn with its adjoining photograph/painting.
Vibrato: The box, along with the layout of the magazine itself, is a clever design. It gives a multi-faceted feel to the magazine, pushing the boundaries of a “typical†literary magazine by mixing various media. We also appreciated the nonfiction articles throughout the magazine (such as the Edie Sedgwick article) showing that a literary magazine can be expansive and cover nonfiction as well.
Bio-Med Times: This magazine impressed us with the professionalism of its approach to the serious subject of science. The quality of the writing in the essays was very strong and, given that so many of the magazines submitted focused exclusively on the personal, we welcomed this outward turn. This magazine worked to expand our notion of what a high school magazine could be, and we felt it was more unified in theme than many of the others.
2008 NSPA DIGITAL YEARBOOK PACEMAKERS
Judges’ Comments:
Characteristics of the top four: