The Stony Point High School Prowler newspaper staff has been named the recipient of the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) Pacemaker Award, the top honor for high school publications in the United States.

The award was announced Nov. 12 at the NSPA journalism conference in Indianapolis. Each year, the NSPA presents scholastic journalism’s preeminent award, the Pacemaker. There is a category for each type of publication — online, newspaper, yearbook, magazine and broadcast. Entries are judged by teams of professionals based on the following criteria: coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership, design, photography and graphics.

Stony Point has been a finalist for the award for the last two years before earning the honor.

“This is first time the Prowler staff has broken out from Pacemaker finalist to achieve the highest honor a newspaper staff can receive on the national level,” Prowler Staff Adviser Rebecca Plumley said. “I think what put them over the top was their attention to the stories of those who usually do not receive coverage. I was quite proud of my students last year when they produced stories about our students to tackle the benefits and issues that come from working with a very culturally diverse group.”

Prowler Editor Johnny Nguyen said the publication’s success can be attributed to true collaboration with each other. He said the entire staff has the mindset of assisting on all pages instead of just their own page.

“We’re constantly working on stories or infographics from home, outside of class or just putting in a huge amount of time and maximizing class time to write powerful, solid stories or create really appealing visuals,” Nguyen said. “In addition, all of us work together on all parts of the paper, from collaborating on designs for every page to making sure everything has multiple edits before being sent to press. There’s just perfect unity between all of us that makes us grow and become better over time.”

In addition to the Pacemaker Award, Prowler Staff Member Izzy Solis placed seventh for the national high school political cartoonist of the year. The publications program has seen success through the fall season in international, national and state competitions. Below is a list of achievements this year:

Prowler Newspaper

  • Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) Gold Medalist with All-Columbian Honors in Verbal Coverage,
  • NSPA First Class with Marks of Distinction in Coverage and Content and
  • CSPA National Gold Circle Award, Third Place Culture Feature “Hamilton,” Parker Shepard.

Touchstone Yearbook

  • NSPA All-American with Marks of Distinction in essentials, coverage, design and photography,
  • UIL Interscholastic League Press Conference Award of Distinguished Merit,
  • Star finalist and
  • 2016 Premier Print Award for outstanding achievement in the production of the Touchstone 2015 yearbook

Convention: Texas Association of Journalism Educators

  • Texas Association of Journalism Educators Best of Show Small Yearbook