The Westwood Horizon was recently announced as one of nineteen digital publications chosen as Finalists for the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) Crown Awards. These publications, published during the 2016-17 academic year, will be presented in March 2018 at ceremonies in New York City.

The Crown Awards honor top student publications chosen from CSPA’s members. Crowns are selected for overall excellence in a head-to-head comparison. Student publishing in news, magazine, yearbook or digital (online) formats are all eligible.  During Crown consideration, publications are judged on their excellence as shown by their design, photography, concept, coverage and writing. A total of 1,100 publications were eligible for judging.

Crown Finalists are actual winners, not nominees. Some will be announced as Gold Crowns; the rest are Silver Crowns. Final results will be announced and presented at the CSPA ceremonies in March 2018.

The CSPA offers three annual competitions to honor excellence in student publishing: Medalist Critiques for written evaluation, Crown Awards for overall excellence and Gold Circle Awards for individual student recognition.

Medalist Critiques are released on a rolling basis as completed while Crown Awards and Gold Circles are judged following seasonal deadlines in June and October. For example, Gold Circle Awards for news and magazines were released September 19 while yearbook and digital entries for individual Gold Circle Awards are not due until a final deadline of October 10. Their judging and release will be completed in February.

“We’ve changed the timing of our Crown Awards judging,” Edmund Sullivan, CSPA’s executive director, said. “Magazines were judged first, to be followed by print and hybrid newspapers, then yearbooks in October and finally, digital (online) news sites in November.”  Announcements of Finalists will follow each judging with the full list complete by the end of November.

The Crown Awards require a different judging process from the CSPA’s Medalist Critiques. Regular CSPA members are invited to submit a second copy of their publication for Crown judging. From among those entries submitted, the Crown Awards are considered at Columbia by panels of invited judges, working in small groups to review each publication.

Crown Awards summarize overall excellence in the entire publication while Medalist Critiques compare each publication against a printed set of standards. In contrast, Medalist Critiques are the work of a single adviser-judge.

Crown Awards function as a “top-down” view of general excellence; Medalist Critiques offer a “bottom-up” perspective, noting specific strengths and weaknesses.

Middle School Digitals
Canyon Chronicle | canyonchronicle.com, Cactus Canyon Junior High School, Apache Junction, AZ.

High School Digitals
Bearing News | bearingnews.org, Rock Bridge High School, Columbia, MO;
Lion Nation Online | lionnationonline.org, Prestonwood Christian Academy, Plano, TX;
Niles West News | nileswestnews.org, Niles West High School, Skokie, IL;
Pathfinder | pwestpathfinder.com, Parkway West High School, Ballwin, MO;
Southwest Shadow | southwestshadow.com, Southwest Career and Technical Academy, Las Vegas, NV;
The Feather Online | thefeather.com, Fresno Christian High School, Fresno, CA;
The Lasso | fccps.org/lasso, George Mason High School, Falls Church, VA;
The Paly Voice | palyvoice.com, Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto, CA;
The Rider | therideronline.com, Legacy High School, Mansfield, TX;
Tide Lines Online | pahstidelines.com, Pottsville Area High School, Pottsville, PA;
Wayland Student Press Network | waylandstudentpress.com, Wayland High School, Wayland, MA;
Westwood Horizon | westwoodhorizon.com, Westwood High School, Austin, TX;
Wingspan | libertywingspan.com, Liberty High School, Frisco, TX.

College Digitals
Distraction | distractionmagazine.com, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL;
Dollars & Sense | blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/dollarsandsense, Baruch College, New York, NY;
The Connector | scadconnector.com, SCAD Atlanta, Atlanta, GA;
The Medill Justice Project | medilljusticeproject.org, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL;
Woodcrest Magazine | woodcrestmagazine.com, Cabrini University, Radnor, PA.