The Foothill Dragon Press was awarded with a Gold Crown Award at the 89th annual Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) convention last Friday, March 22. The Gold Crown Award is CSPA’s highest honor, and the Dragon Press was one of five winners in the Digital Publication category.
The convention took place from March 20-22 at Columbia University in New York and 12 members of the Dragon Press staff and the two advisers were able to attend.
Overall, 1,344 digital, newspapers, magazines and yearbooks published in the 2011-2012 school year were eligible for judging and 72 won Gold Crowns while 95 won Silver Crowns.
“I’m really excited. You never know, anything happens, so even though I’m really proud of everything that went on our site this year, that doesn’t mean that everyone else agrees. It’s just nice to have that sort of confirmation that we are doing good work,” Editor-in-Chief Rachel Crane said.
Judging took place from December 8-10, 2012 at Columbia University. Publications were judged on writing, editing, design, content, concept, photography, art and graphics.
The judge of the Dragon Press commented that photography on the site pushes “beyond techniques like framing, lines, rule of thirds to backlighting, silhouettes, patterns and textures to create dramatic interactive graphic designs.”
Infographics were also a highlight from the publication.
“Editors used infographics to compliment the in-depth storytelling and prove that their primary emphasis in reporting is on balanced, thoroughly researched content,” CSPA judge said.
The “Contact Us” link was also mentioned for “encouraging readers to submit letters, guest articles and columns.”
The staff is very proud of the recognition and is hoping that they also win the National Scholastic Press Association’s highest honor, the Pacemaker, which they will find out in weeks to come.
“When you see them [winners] you realize that the bar for getting a Gold Crown is incredibly high, so then to win the Gold Crown is, first of all it’s such an honor, but then it’s the big pay off for all of the hard work our students have done all year round,” Journalism adviser Kelly Savio said. “It really is a reflection of just how much time and effort all of these students put into our publication.”
