On Sunday, April 28 at the JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism Convention in Anaheim, Calif., the Shield was awarded a 2019 Online Pacemaker Award. The Shield is one of only 18 staffs in the nation to receive this award. A Pacemaker is a very prestigious award in the world of journalism, and is widely considered to be a high honor for all high school publications.

Publications that enter are analyzed by a group of judges on criteria such as “coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership, design, photography and graphics,” according to the NSPA website.

“It means a lot,” senior sports editor and online co-editor for the Shield Steven Tibbetts said. “It’s nice to know that all the work that me and Mr. Winter and everyone else that helped getting the website to where it is today paid off, and it shows that we are doing a good job.”

It has taken a great deal of hard work on the part of the Shield staffers, and contributions from many members of the staff to get the website to where it is today. Consistent posting on a daily basis is part of what leads the Shield to recognition on this level.

“Mainly I try to post something every day,” Tibbetts said, “and make sure the posts are formatted correctly. I also keep up with the sports schedules and scores that we have on the website.”

This is the second Online Pacemaker Award that the Shield’s website has received. The first was given to the publication in April of 2018.

The staff of the Shield was also honored to be recognized among other very talented schools in the nation.

“You look at the other websites that are out there,” Shield adviser David Winter said, “and it’s mind-blowing how good they are. And you can say, ‘Our website is in that group.’ That’s about as good as it gets. I really respect the talent of the other winners, and to be in that group feels great.”

The many hours of work that the Shield staff members have put towards the website have been leading up to this, and it is an honor to have that work recognized.

“It’s hard to put into words,” Winter said. “Really it’s just like anything else, when you’re putting a product out there, and you want to feel like what you’re doing matters to people and that what you’re doing is at a high level. To have the the people that are setting the standard look at your work and decide that you’re at the top level with all of these great schools in the country, it’s just incredibly gratifying to know that all of the work you’re doing is producing what you are hoping it will produce.”