The Boiling Point and Shalhevet’s yearbook have both collected first-time honors this fall for last year’s work. The Boiling Point has been named one of the nine finalists for the National Scholastic Press Association’s Pacemaker Award, and Yearbook was named best layout among all yearbooks produced by its publishing company.
The Pacemaker is considered the most coveted award in scholastic journalism. This year’s other finalists in the category of broadsheet newspapers with 17 pages or more included schools in Maryland and Iowa, along with the Harvard-Westlake Chronicle.
“The Pacemaker was a team effort,” said last year’s Boiling Point Editor-in-Chief, alumna Leila Miller ’12.
“We couldn’t have done it if we hadn’t had a very dedicated staff with writers who had the patience to write such big stories and go through many drafts,” Leila said. “We had so many people working on the paper last year and just great drawings, photos, polls and layout in every issue, which enhanced its presentation.”
Leila also received an NSPA Story of the Year award. She won Honorable Mention for her three-story package titled “Haredi: Who They Are,” in the Diversity category. Only five awards are given in that category in the whole United States.
Also from the NSPA, the Boiling Point staff was awarded a Multimedia Story of the Year Honorable Mention for its coverage of last year’s kaparot ceremony on the Sport Court. Seniors Jordan Banafsheha and Ariela Feitelberg, juniors Sarah Soroudi and Tamar Willis, and alumni Yonah Nimmer, Justin Brandt-Sarif, David Fletcher and Adam Ashkenazi ’12 won for their contributions, which included a video, a photo gallery, two opinion pieces and a news story.
In addition, for the third time, The Boiling Point received a rating of All-American with Four Marks of Distinction in the NSPA’s Annual Critique Service. The award is based on a lengthy and detailed evaluation of the year’s work, scored on a point system. The Boiling Point earned marks of distinction in coverage/content, writing/editing, leadership, and layout.
From the critique service of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA), the Boiling Point won a Gold Medal with All-Columbian Honors, which it had won once before.
The staff also won four individual awards in the CSPA’s Gold Circle competition, three in page design and one for editorial writing. Only five awards are awarded in each category.
Senior Rose Bern received a Certificate of Merit in editorial writing for her unsigned editorial about cheating, titled “When the work isn’t yours.”
Alumna Rachel Lester ’12 won three Gold Circle awards in design categories. One was a national third place for “Portfolio of Work” in a single subject news or feature package. She also won two Certificates of Merit for page design, one for “news page design: tabloid format” and the other for “op-ed or news analysis page design: Tabloid format.”
Rachel also was the lead designer for Shalhevet’s 2011-2012 yearbook. She and alumna Raquel Garshofsky’12 received two national awards from the Entourage Yearbook Contest, third place in overall Yearbook design and first place in Layout. Shalhevet will be awarded with a Nikon camera.
“I didn’t think we’d win this year, but getting these awards really made all the insane work even more worth it,” Rachel said. “I can’t explain how awesome it feels to be a recent graduate, knowing that you’re now leaving this little legacy behind…especially the Nikon camera.”
Boiling Point editors plan to travel to San Antonio, Tex., next month to attend the NSPA’s annual fall convention, at which they will learn whether they’ve received the Pacemaker or not. The award will be announced on Shabbat, Nov. 17, but NSPA leaders said they would hold a separate ceremony for Shalhevet after Shabbat is over.
“It’s always very encouraging to receive awards for hard work, and I hope we can continue putting out award-winning papers in the futre,” said co-editor-in-chief Jacob Ellenhorn.
