The Riverside-Brookfield High School student newspaper, the Clarion, won a coveted award this spring from the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA). For the second time in four years the Clarion was awarded the NSPA’s Online Pacemaker award for excellence.
“It kind of roughly puts you in the top 10 percent of online student media,” said Dan Mancoff, the faculty advisor to the Clarion. “It’s a testament to the kids’ ethical integrity and hard work and cutting-edge journalism.
“They’re an amazing staff. I think that they’ve come a long way in terms of making the Clarion a newspaper that really speaks to the community and delivers information that people need to hear.”
This spring the Clarion made waves and upset some members of the school board, with a special four-page print edition headlined “Censored,” which told of how the school administration quashed the Clarion’s plans to host an online forum for school board candidates.
Clarion staffers also picked up some individual awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association recently.
Junior Carey Torres won first place in the comic cartoon category for a lighthearted 33-second-long animated cartoon titled “RB’s Financial Future.”
Editor-in-Chief Katie Maxwell and Renee Miedlar, both seniors, won a third-place award in the Nonfiction Interview for Digital Media category for their interview with author M.T. Anderson. Senior Christine Vassos also picked up a third-place award in the category of Photo and Audio Slideshow for Digital Media for her audio slideshow of a Best Buddies club trip to Sonny Acres Farm.
District 208 Superintendent Kevin Skinkis praised the Clarion staff for winning the Online Pacemaker award and other honors this year.
“I think it’s a great accomplishment and the students that are involved in the Clarion work very hard and it’s nice to see them recognized,” Skinkis said.
