Photo by Sterling Greback

The journalism department continued it’s tradition of excellence with a 2015 Silver Crown award and 2016 Online Pacemaker.

TheRiderOnline, the online newspaper of Mansfield Legacy High School, earned a spot among the finalists for the 2014 NSPA Online Pacemaker award. 30 high school papers from around the nation received this top honor from the National Scholastic Press Association. The winners of the 2014 Pacemaker award will be announced at the JEA/ NSPA Spring National Convention in Denver, Colorado on April 18.

“This year’s best sites excelled not only with their written coverage but with their photography, multimedia or graphics,” an Online Pacemaker judge said. “The narrow margins between this year’s finalists are an encouraging indicator of journalism’s exciting future.”

The newspaper also earned a Digital Silver Crown from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, the publication’s sixth consecutive Crown Award since the paper launched in 2009. The prestigious Crown Awards are the highest recognition given by the CSPA to a student digital medium for overall excellence.

“They do everything on their own, that makes me proud,” journalism Adviser Leland Mallett said. “I hope we can continue to get awards in the future.”

Photographer Aisha DeBurr earned Photo of the Year from the NSPA. The photo of three theater students performing a puppet show garnered top honors from the national level association.

“I had never seen a shadow puppet picture ever so then I decided that I should take one,” DeBurr said. “Mallett saw the picture and said ‘Dearinger come here!’ and showed the entire class.”