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The Student News Site of Sunny Hills High School

The Accolade

The Student News Site of Sunny Hills High School

The Accolade

The Student News Site of Sunny Hills High School

The Accolade

The National Scholastic Press Association selected this snapshot of The Accolade’s online news website in recognizing it as one of 34 Pacemaker finalists on Tuesday, March 11. The staff will find out if it becomes a Pacemaker winner during an awards ceremony on Saturday, April 26, in Seattle.

Journalism program earns another round of national, regional awards

Soojin Cho, Copy Editor March 20, 2025

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...

Accolade seniors Teo Jeong (left), Justin Pak and Nathan Lee celebrate the Pacemaker recognition with Martinelli’s sparkling cider during fourth period on Tuesday, Nov. 12, in Room 138.

SETTING THE PACE: For 1st time, Advanced Journalism program wins back-to-back national award

Yena Oh, Sports Editor December 12, 2024

Back to back and cementing a team into the record books. The Kansas City Chiefs know what it takes to win a Super Bowl for two straight years (2023 and 2024). So do the Los Angeles Lakers (2009 and...

The Accolade receives third national Pacemaker nomination within last four years

Justin Pak, Web Managing Editor October 8, 2024

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...

Helios adviser Lindsay Safe presents the National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker award to her fourth-period yearbook class on Friday, April 12, in Room 62. The award is for the 2022-2023 yearbook titled, “Honestly Who Says We Can’t?” making this the publication’s third such Pacemaker plaque.

Helios wins third Pacemaker award; The Accolade also earns national recognition

Dareen Hagekhalil, Staff Reporter April 24, 2024

Helios won its third national award for its 2022-2023 yearbook during a Kansas City journalism convention earlier this month. “I was shocked at that; it was definitely a pleasant surprise,” said...

To celebrate the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s Crown finalist nomination, The Accolade adviser Tommy Li presents a plastic container of Ferrero Rocher chocolates as a treat for staff members during the fourth period Advanced Journalism class on Wednesday, Dec. 20. Li wanted those on staff to know that regardless of any national award The Accolade will receive on Friday, March 15, he sees them as Gold Crown winners.

The Accolade, Helios earn Crown finalist nominations for second straight year from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association

Susie Kim, Web Editor-in-Chief February 9, 2024

While the Columbia Scholastic Press Association [CSPA] marks its 100th spring convention anniversary in New York next month, The Accolade staff hopes the award ceremony held there will lead to its first...

The Accolade will find out next month whether issues from the 2022-2023 school year will earn the program's second national Pacemaker award, considered to be as valuable as a Pulitzer Prize offered to professional publications. This front cover of the Friday, Nov. 18, 2022, issue was used in the National Scholastic Press Association's September news release listing the 39 finalists in the newspaper/newsmagazine category.

The Accolade up for its second national Pacemaker award on Saturday, Nov. 4

Aashna Dialani, Opinion Editor October 10, 2023

The Accolade will find out next month whether it wins its second National Scholastic Press Association [NSPA] Pacemaker award in recognition of six of the publication’s issues from the 2022-2023 school...

A screenshot of the National Scholastic Press Association's list of high school newspaper Pacemaker finalists with the first one representing California journalism programs being Sunny Hills' The Accolade.

The Accolade newspaper PDF issues from 2020-2021 tapped national Pacemaker finalist – only journalism program in Orange County given such an honor

Jaimie Chun, Editor-in-Chief October 30, 2021

For the first time since 2013, The Accolade has been named a national Pacemaker award finalist based on issues evaluated from the 2020-2021 school year. “This particular recognition has eluded us...

Some of the Helios staffers from last year note the hard work and effort in producing creative Index pages like this one for the 2018-2019 yearbook, which swept both national journalism awards this school year. Image posted with permission from Lindsay Safe.

Yearbook makes history — winning top two national journalism awards, placing second in Best of Show in a single school year

Emmaline De Leon May 24, 2020

When Sabrina Lee and Tara Desai became co-editors-in-chief of Helios last school year as seniors, they strived to produce a yearbook they’d be proud of for the rest of their lives -- a goal common to...

Though the yearbook has used social media to promote its staff application for the next school year in the past, the Sunny Hills Helios adviser has had to rely solely on Instagram posting like this because of COVID-19 pandemic-related school closure since March 16. The deadline to apply has also been extended from March 30 to April 19. Image posted with permission from Anika Madan.

Yearbook extends 2020-2021 staff application deadline to April 19 because of COVID-19-related school closure

Minjeong Kim, Feature Editor April 8, 2020

Because of the district-imposed school closure nearly a month ago, the yearbook adviser will continue to accept 2020-2021 staff applications, extending the due date to April 19 instead of the original...

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