For the third time in four years, The Accolade has received a finalist nomination for a national journalism award in which the winners will be announced next month.

“The Pacemaker is the association’s preeminent award,” said Laura Widmer, executive director of the Minnesota-based National Scholastic Press Association [NSPA], in a news release. “NSPA is honored to recognize the best of the best.”

The NSPA posted Sunday, Sept. 22, on its Facebook page its list of finalists in the newspaper/newsmagazine and specialty magazine categories; in 2021 and 2023, The Accolade received a nomination in the newspaper/newsmagazine category.

But because the publication opted to switch to producing four specialty magazines last year, it became only one of eight programs nationwide — and the only one in Southern California — that earned a finalist nod in that category.

In that same NSPA news release, Gary Lundgren, associate director and coordinator of the Pacemaker competition, also noted the movement toward a more specialized product.

“With most news being delivered online, student journalists have been redefining their print newspaper,” Lundgren said. “More and more, that means transitioning from a traditional newspaper format to a specialty magazine with in-depth reporting.” 

Even though NSPA officials decided to combine finalists in both categories into one list this year, Lundgren said in an email to The Accolade that the NSPA will still recognize winners based on the two different print categories.

For the first time in Accolade history, the Advanced Journalism class in the 2023-2024 school year produced four all-color, glossy magazines comprising 32 pages — each focused on a specific topic. The first one in September was titled, “Recognition,” followed by one in December titled, “Recovery.” 

In the spring semester, the staff produced work centered on the title, “Reframing Safety,” while the last issue of the school year was the traditional senior issue called, “Remembering.”

“I’m proud of last year’s top editors and their willingness to try something different,” said Accolade adviser Tommy Li, who guided the school’s journalism program to win a Pacemaker in 2005 and as recently as last year in 2023. “I’m also quite grateful to all those who gave us feedback along the way to ensure we are producing the best possible magazine for not only our readers here on campus, but also throughout our community and beyond.”

Although the NSPA doesn’t provide specific reasons for how the judges chose finalists, Li said he hopes they recognized the themes for each issue, something that not many other specialty magazines from other high school journalism programs did this past school year.

“I highly encouraged the top editors that if we started with ‘Recognition,’ we should keep the idea of a one- or two-word theme on the cover that starts with the ‘re-’ prefix,” he said. “I’m glad they took my advice.”

Accolade staff members found out about the nomination the next day on Monday, Sept. 23, during the fourth-period class.

As he has done in the past, Li played the Kool and the Gang song, “Celebration,” as staffers entered the classroom, signifying that the staff received some kind of an award.

He then showed on the Viewsonic monitor the NSPA Facebook posting and explained the significance of becoming a finalist, finishing with leading the class in an Accolade cheer.

Editor-in-chief senior Alexxa Berumen, who worked on the 2023-2024 issues as a co-Spotlight editor last year, said she thinks the nomination was well-deserved.

“I felt extremely proud of our staff for being able to secure another nomination,” Berumen said. “I think that this designation really exemplifies the quality work that we produce and proves the late nights and effort to be well worth it.”

Assistant news editor junior Kevin Lee, who as a staff reporter last year worked on an article for the second semester “Reframing Safety” issue, agreed with Berumen’s sentiment.

“I was surprised that The Accolade received a nomination at first, but I realized that it should have been expected because there was a lot of work that the staff last year put into the magazines,” Lee said.

After Li’s announcement, Berumen said she contacted 2023-2024 editor-in-chief Jaimie Chun and told her about the nomination.

“To have been nominated in our first year transitioning entirely to a magazine is almost unbelievable and definitely beyond my expectations,” Chun said. “I know how hard the staff worked to produce every issue, so this is a very rewarding moment.”

In the combined newspaper/newsmagazine and specialty magazine category, the NSPA announced 45 finalists with The Accolade being one of 13 from California and the sole nominee from Orange County.

To recognize the finalists, the NSPA included images of an issue from each publication, choosing The Accolade’s “Recovery” issue, which focused on mental health and how Sunny Hills students have been doing in that area post-COVID-19. It also featured the campus’ new mental health coordinator.

“I think the great thing about this issue was that mental health was a very relevant topic at that time — and of course, it still is,” said Chun, who is in her freshman year majoring in journalism at Northwestern University in Illinois. “The fact that our school was noticeably trying to make mental health support resources more accessible made this theme an important one for us to cover.” 

Throughout all issues, the former editor-in-chief said she believed in-depth coverage of the main topics contributed most to the publication’s success.

“I think our dedication to explore all facets and nuances of our themes paid off,” Chun said. “The editors and I tried to be very deliberate with the stories we chose so that our issue can show various sides of our topic, whether that was mental health, safety, etc.”

The NSPA will reveal Pacemaker winners on Saturday, Nov. 9, at an awards ceremony during the Journalism Education Association/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention in Philadelphia. 

“If we could consecutively win another Pacemaker this year, I’d be so happy for The Accolade as a program,” Chun said. “I hope that this nomination is the first of many recognitions The Accolade receives after transitioning to a magazine print publication.”

Because of a lack of finances to fund the trip, no representative from The Accolade will attend the ceremony.

“I really would enjoy the experience of going to accept the award in person, so I am disappointed that the staff will not be able to once again this year,” Berumen said. “I think it would have served as a great bonding opportunity for us.”