{"id":624722,"date":"2026-04-18T13:34:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T18:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/?p=624722"},"modified":"2026-04-20T08:43:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T13:43:27","slug":"2026-online-pacemakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/2026-online-pacemakers\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Online Pacemakers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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NSPA recognizes online excellence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Pacemaker competition recognizes 16 online news sites for excellence<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 18, 202<\/em>6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MINNEAPLIS \u2014 The nation\u2019s top scholastic websites were recognized today by the National Scholastic Press Association, which announced 16 winners in its annual Pacemaker competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pacemaker winners were announced for the first time on Saturday, April 18 at the convention\u2019s awards ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Pacemaker is the association\u2019s preeminent award,\u201d Executive Director Laura Widmer said. \u201cNSPA is honored to recognize the best of the best.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NSPA Pacemaker, one of the oldest awards for scholastic journalism, has a rich tradition. The association started presenting the prestigious award to high school newspapers soon after the organization was founded in 1921. Throughout the years, yearbooks, magazines, online sites, broadcast programs and innovation were added to the competition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The online sites competed in two different categories based on school population. Two teams of three judges studied every entry, analyzing its strengths. The status of each entry was agreed upon by at least two of the three judges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this competition, only the online news product was judged. The news sites were either digital companions to print newspapers and newsmagazines or online-only products. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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2025 Spring convention awards<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

2026 Innovation Pacemaker
2025 Literary Arts Magazine Pacemaker
2026 Online Pacemaker
2025 Yearbook Pacemaker<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Individual Best of Show
Staff Best of Show<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pacemaker finalists<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

2026 Innovation Pacemaker finalists
<\/a>2025 Literary Arts Magazine Pacemaker finalists
<\/a>2026 Online Pacemaker finalists
<\/a>2025 Yearbook Pacemaker finalists<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Online Pacemakers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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

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Scot Scoop
<\/strong><\/a>Carlmont High School
Belmont, California
Editor-in-chief: Naomi Hsu
Adviser: Justin Raisner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Wildcat
<\/strong><\/a>Brea Olinda High School
Brea, California
Editor-in-chief: Siena Codekas
Adviser: Alex Koers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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El Estoque
<\/strong><\/a>Monta Vista High School
Cupertino, California
Editors-in-chief: Sophia D’Sa, Jillian Ju, Isabelle Kok, Liz Liu, Stella Petzova, Benjamin Zhang
Advisers: Vennessa Nava, Julia Satterthwaite<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Accolade
<\/strong><\/a>Sunny Hills High School
Fullerton, California
Editor-in-chief: Aashna Dialani
Adviser: C.J. D’Innocente<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Falconer
<\/strong><\/a>Torrey Pines High School
San Diego, California
Editor-in-chief: Sarina Feng
Adviser: Kara Adler<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Harker Aquila
<\/strong><\/a>The Harker School
San Jose, California
Editors-in-chief: Eva Cheng, Lily Shi
Adviser: Whitney Huang<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Foothill Dragon Press
<\/strong><\/a>Foothill Technology High School
Ventura, California
Editors-in-chief: Fiona Aulenta, Jane Kim
Adviser: Yiu Hung Li<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The BluePrint Online
<\/strong><\/a>Hagerty High School
Oviedo, Florida
Editors-in-chief: Lia Miller, Holly Smyers
Adviser: Brit Taylor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Odyssey Media Group
<\/strong><\/a>Clarke Central High School
Athens, Georgia
Editor-in-chief: Lea D’Angelo
Adviser: David A. Ragsdale<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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U-High Midway
<\/strong><\/a>University of Chicago Laboratory High School
Chicago, Illinois
Editors-in-chief: Light Dohrn, Kabir Joshi, Sohana Schneider
Adviser: Logan Aimone<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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HiLite
<\/strong><\/a>Carmel High School
Carmel, Indiana
Editors-in-chief: Mahitha Konjeti, Magan Xia
Adviser: Jim Streisel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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West Side Story
<\/strong><\/a>Iowa City West High School
Iowa City, Iowa
Editor-in-chief: Evelyn Kraber
Adviser: Sara Whittaker<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Harbinger
<\/strong><\/a>Shawnee Mission East High School
Prairie Village, Kansas
Editors-in-chief: Sophia Brockmeier, Libby Marsh, Luciana Mendy, Lucy Stephens
Adviser: Dow Tate<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Rubicon
<\/strong><\/a>St. Paul Academy and Summit School
St. Paul, Minnesota
Editor-in-chief: Thomas Chen
Adviser: Kathryn Campbell<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Panther Press
<\/strong><\/a>Strath Haven High School
Wallingford, Pennsylvania
Editors-in-chief: Kaitlyn Ho, Matthew Ramirez
Adviser: Kate Plows<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Coppell Student Media
<\/strong><\/a>Coppell High School
Coppell, Texas
Editor-in-chief: Yug Talukdar
Adviser: Chase Wofford<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NSPA recognizes online excellence Pacemaker competition recognizes 16 online news sites for excellence April 18, 2026 MINNEAPLIS \u2014 The nation\u2019s top scholastic websites were recognized today by the National Scholastic Press Association, which announced 16 winners in its annual Pacemaker competition. Pacemaker winners were announced for the first time on Saturday, April 18 at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624722"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624722"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":624759,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624722\/revisions\/624759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/nspa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}