The Grand Slam of journalism awards.
Actually, a Super Slam.
That’s what journalism adviser Tommy Li has been telling the 45 members of The Accolade staff after the program earned its first honor of the school year last semester.
“The 2024-2025 school year has been one for the ages,” said Li, who is in his second stint overseeing Sunny Hills’ journalism program after his first go-around from the 2001-2002 to the 2007-2008 school years. “Not only did we get national recognition for the work we have produced, but we also won some Orange County awards recognizing us as the best of the best.
“We have a chance to become legendary if we get what I call the ‘Super Slam.’”
Li was referring to the Tuesday, March 11, virtual announcement from the National Scholastic Press Association [NSPA] recognizing The Accolade’s online news website as one of 34 Pacemaker finalists worldwide.
“The Pacemaker is the association’s preeminent award,” the NSPA’s executive director Laura Widmer said in a news release that accompanied the finalist announcement. “NSPA is honored to recognize the best of the best.”
VIDEO CUTLINE: Accolade adviser Tommy Li shows his fourth-period Advanced Journalism and Honors Advanced Journalism classes in Room 138 on Thursday, March 13, on the large ViewSonic monitor the previous day’s Facebook post from the National Scholastic Press Association, which recognized The Accolade as one of 34 online Pacemaker finalists. The winning Pacemaker websites will be announced during an awards ceremony April 26 at a spring national journalism convention in Seattle. (Video taken by Jin Son)
The staff will find out on Saturday, April 26, at an awards ceremony in Seattle whether its finalist status will be elevated to a Pacemaker winner. With a $1,400 donation from the Fullerton Rotary Club, The Accolade will be able to send web editor-in-chief senior Seowon Han and web managing editor senior Justin Pak along with Li to accept the finalist award during the Thursday-Saturday, April 24-26, NSPA spring journalism convention in Seattle.
“The judging teams will now continue to study the sites named as Pacemaker finalists on a frequent basis,” said Gary Lundgren, associate director and coordinator of the NSPA Pacemaker competition in that same news release. “The Pacemaker winners will be selected shortly before they are named in April, so for the 34 schools we are naming as finalists today, the competition is still happening in real-time.”
HISTORIC AWARD-WINNING SEASON
Li considers the following accomplishments showered upon The Accolade staff this school year the Grand Slam of journalism awards:
- Pacemaker finalist and winner for the four specialty magazines produced during the 2023-2024 school year; announced in the fall semester
- Crown award finalist for the print issues last school year and online news website; announced last December by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association
- Orange County Journalism Education Association [OCJEA] writing contest’s Sweepstakes trophy for the inaugural North Division made up of high school journalism programs north of the 55 Highway; obtained last month
“A Super Slam would be if we took home our first ever Gold Crown plaque, a Sweepstakes trophy at the state level and the online news website Pacemaker plaque,” the adviser said. “Hopefully, these will all fall into place, but even if we fall short, the staff should recognize that it has done something that no other Accoladian has ever been able to accomplish. I would put these guys as well as those who contributed to awards from last year’s staff in The Accolade Hall of Fame if we were to ever have one.”
Han, one of the 10 who competed in the OCJEA Sweepstakes writing competition, was instrumental in redesigning the online news website and introducing a new feature like the Korean language section to reach out to the 30% or more Korean or Korean-American student population on campus.
“It feels incredible and unbelievable that I became the first to accomplish this, of course with the help of Mr. Li and all staff members,” the web editor-in-chief said. “And as Mr. Li would say, I was really surprised and thankful that my ‘name is now enshrined in history.’”
Pak also acknowledged the staff’s team effort this school year.
“It feels good that this award is based on our current staff’s work and not last year’s,” the web managing editor said. “This means that all the staff members who celebrated on Wednesday were a part of the reason why we were able to achieve this, so it’s even more special.”
Han said the process of receiving a finalist nomination was not easy.
“I worked really hard throughout the whole school year redesigning almost everything — from changing the colors to adding and rearranging the widgets on the homepage,” she said. “Justin and I planned things over the summer, and we even had numerous meetings with Mr. Li to consolidate our plans.”
Han said she and Pak also worked to have more consistent article posting.
With more regular posting, the website became a SNO Distinguished Site earlier than in previous years — at the start of the spring semester — and the web editor-in-chief believes it could have contributed to the online Pacemaker finalist nomination.
Additionally, Han said she plans to continue developing the online website with Pak for the program to take home its first Pacemaker plaque for the online news website.
“I really want to aim for more sports coverage with our Sports Center feature that we initiated this year,” she said. “I want to keep up with what we’ve been doing more to hopefully get that winner title this April with Justin.”
ANOTHER FIRST
The Accolade’s North Division Sweepstakes trophy came during the Saturday, Feb. 22, OCJEA writing contest held at Fullerton College.
Although various Orange County high school journalism programs have participated in the competition since its inception in 1973, the region for the first time was split into North and South divisions this year.
“Los Angeles County journalism students are divided into regions, so last year, I pitched to the board in charge of the state writing competition the proposal to allow us to do the same, and board members voted to approve it for this school year,” said Li, past OCJEA president and OCJEA treasurer this school year. “Doing this will double the amount of students we can send to the state competition later on.”
The Sweepstakes awards points based on Top 10 placements in four writing categories — news, editorial, feature and sports. A tenth place gets one point for the team, while a first place receives 10 points, and the school with the highest cumulative score wins.
The participating Accolade members ranked in their respective Sweepstakes categories:
- First-place news: Pak
- Second place sports: co-Sports editor junior Lauren Kang
- Third place editorial: Han
- Third place sports: co-Sports editor junior Yena Oh
- Fifth place feature: managing editor senior Christine Yoo
- Seventh place news: News editor junior Irene Park
- Seventh place editorial: Opinion editor junior Aashna Dialani
- Seventh place feature: co-Arts & Entertainment editor senior Claire Lee
- Ninth place feature: Feature editor junior Nicole Park
- Tenth place news: assistant News editor junior Kevin Lee
Pak, who has participated in the write-offs since his freshman year, said he was proud of his improvement over the years.
“I previously never placed too high in these events, and I also thought I missed some important details in my story,” he said. “I feel happy that I won first because I’ve never placed above seventh place.”
VIDEO CUTLINE: Accolade web managing editor senior Justin Pak places first in the Orange County Journalism Education Association write-offs’ news writing category on Saturday, Feb. 22. Web editor-in-chief senior Seowon Han received his trophy and certificate on Pak’s behalf. (Video taken by Tommy Li)
Contrary to Pak’s worries, the judges who scored his paper voted unanimously for his win.
“All of us as judges think this clearly was the winning entry,” wrote one of the judges who commented on his evaluation sheet. “[Pak] has a bright future ahead as a reporter, writer or whatever profession [he] pursues.”
Kang, who participated in the competition for the first time this year, said she did not expect herself to rank in the Top 3 and win a second-place trophy.
“Leading up to the announcement, I had no idea how I’d place,” the co-Sports editor said. “I was definitely shocked when I heard I got second place, as I didn’t expect that, but it feels great to know that the hard work I’ve been putting in to improve my journalistic skills has been paying off.”
The staff members who did not participate in the Sweepstakes were placed in the following categories and produced the following results:
- First-place photography: layout editor senior Nathan Lee
- Second-place magazine layout: co-Spotlight editor senior Angelina Jeong
- Superior novice news: Spotlight reporter sophomore Kyuwon Han
- Excellent novice news: Spotlight reporter and business manager sophomore Ashley Kang
Despite not being a photo editor, Nathan Lee said he wasn’t surprised that he came in first.
“Honestly, coming into the competition, I wasn’t very nervous about entering a new category because I’ve been doing photography as a hobby for a couple of years,” he said. “I knew what elements the journalists wanted, so I expected nothing less than first place.”
VIDEO CUTLINE: Accolade adviser Tommy Li announces the results from the Saturday, Feb. 22, Orange County Journalism Education Association write-offs to the staff Monday, Feb. 24, during fourth period in Room 138. (Video taken by Gerald Han)
The rest of the winning entries from the contest can be found on the OCJEA website.
The staff members who participated in the Sweepstakes and placed in the Top 10 will advance to the Southern California Journalism Education Association student media competition on Saturday, April 5, at El Camino College in Torrance.
AND ANOTHER ONE
Additionally, the publication received first place for the print Best of Show North Division award with its Monday, Dec. 16, Accolade issue, ‘tis the season.
“Per usual, Accolade editors, visual editors and writers produce an outstanding edition,” wrote one of the judges who critiqued the magazine.
Yoo said she and editor-in-chief senior Alexxa Berumen submitted the December issue because of its quality.
“Both Alexxa and I believed that it showcased the program’s skills the best with its stories and design,” the managing editor said.
Additionally, The Accolade finished second — behind Brea Olinda’s The Wildcat by 0.5 points — for the online Best of Show North Division plaque.
Han said the result challenged her to keep working on the website, which led to the national recognition nearly a month later.
“I felt a bit disappointed that we missed the first place by 0.5 points, but it made me think we need to work more on sports coverage and offer more to the online readers,” the senior said.
Despite the struggles, she said she was proud of the publication’s accomplishments this school year and hopes to continue the winning streak.
“This season has been full of surprises, especially because from a web editor-in-chief’s perspective rather than a staffer’s, it was harder to estimate whether we’re going in the right direction and if we’re guiding the staff well,” Han said. “I’m really unsure whether we’ll win the final round or the state write-off sweepstakes, but I will still try my best to at least feel proud of what we do in the process.”
The web editor-in-chief also acknowledged the donation from the Fullerton Rotary Club following the staff’s achievements.
“I sincerely thank the Fullerton Rotary Club for funding us for our trip to Seattle and granting us this opportunity to celebrate our first-ever achievement in person,” said Han, who with Pak was among a group of journalism students who attended the NSPA spring journalism convention in San Francisco two years ago. “I’m really excited to attend the convention for the second and last time in high school.”
