Mars’ Hill named national award finalist

Posted by admin on Oct 20, 2009 in News | 0 comments

Mars’ Hill has been announced one of twenty-five finalists for the Associated Collegiate Press’ (ACP) Pacemaker award for its 2008-09 edition. The Pacemaker award is given out each year to recognize excellence in student media.

Finalists for the Newspaper Pacemaker award are divided into three different categories: four-year university daily newspapers, four-year university non-daily newspapers, and two-year college newspapers. Mars’ Hill is one of twenty-five finalists for the four-year university non-daily category. Thirteen finalists were announced for the four-year daily, and 10 were announced for the two-year college category. The 48 total finalists were selected from a field of 228 entries.

The ACP, the largest and oldest national membership organization for college student media in the United States, gives the Pacemaker awards each year to newspapers based on their coverage and content, quality of writing, evidence of in-depth reporting, design and photography among others. Though the ACP is an American organization, membership is open to newspapers outside the
U.S., allowing Mars’ Hill membership and the ability to be eligible for the award.

“I’m really excited that the paper was nominated again [for] last year. Mars’ Hill has a long history of ACP nominations, so we had some seriously big shoes to fill,” says Lauren Thompson, last year’s Editor-in-Chief of Mars’ Hill.

Mars’ Hill has been recognized with the Pacemaker award for its 2004-05 edition and its 2006-07 edition.

“Mars’ Hill has a reputation for being a newspaper apart, with our arts and design focus, and magazine-style formatting, so I think the nomination is well-deserved. It feels great to be nominated alongside some really major schools with far more resources and students to draw from,” added Thompson.

In the non-daily category, Mars’ Hill was nominated alongside the newspapers from several large, well-known, not to mention wealthy universities. Other notable nominees for the non-daily category include the Univeristy of Chicago’s Chicago Maroon, Vanderbilt University’s The Vanderbilt Hustler, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) The Tech.

The winners of the award will be announced at the ACP’s National College Media Convention in Austin, Texas, which takes places between Oct 28 – Nov. 1.