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The Battalion was one of 18 finalists up for a Pacemaker Award in the four-year, daily newspaper category. Of the 18, nine won a Pacemaker, the Associated Collegiate Press' most prestigious award.

The Battalion staff honored with award

Pacemaker, collegiate equivalent to Pulitzer prize, presented at convention

By: Meredith Zdenek

Posted: 11/3/08

At the 87th Annual National College Media Convention on Saturday, The Battalion was given a Pacemaker award presented by the Associated Collegiate Press and the Newspaper Association of America Foundation.

The awards are considered to be the highest national honors for student journalists and several issues from each newspaper's production schedule are selected at random to be judged, which ensures that to be competitive for a Pacemaker, a publication must show consistent quality over an academic year.

"The Pacemaker is college journalists' equivalent of the Pulitzer prize and the highest honor that could be bestowed upon a college newspaper," said Robert Wegener, the general manager of Student Media. "It is a recognition of all of the hard work that is constantly put into the newspaper, and I am really proud of the staff."

Judges select Pacemaker Finalists and Pacemakers based on the following: coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership on the opinion page, evidence of in-depth reporting, design, photography, art and graphics.

"To be a part of the Pacemaker is historic; The Batt has never been a part of it," said Kevin Alexander, senior English major and enterprise editor at The Battalion. "It is a humongous honor and it makes the four years of working there all worth it."

Brent Shirley, the 2007-2008 editor in chief, said he was very excited and surprised to hear the news because it's the best honor a college newspaper can hope for.

"Honestly, I didn't expect for us to win it because A&M has not been recognized in the upper level of newspapers in a long time, so when I heard that not only did we become a finalist but we won [a] Pacemaker, I was very excited," Shirley said.

"The people who worked last year poured hours of work into it and were very deserving, and I am honored to be a part of it."

The Battalion was a Pacemaker finalist in 1996-97 and 1995-96 and a Southwest Regional Pacemaker winner in 1991-92.