DartNewsOnline nominated for national award

The staff of the DartNewsOnline earned a designation as a finalist for a national journalism award for work on the site that went live in August 2009.

Twenty-six national finalists for the Pacemaker award were announced Friday by the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA), the world’s largest group for high school journalists.  The Pacemaker is the highest annual award for high school journalism staffs.

From that list of finalists, a more select group of online newspapers will earn the distinction as Pacemakers during the NSPA’s spring national convention April 15-18 in Portland, Ore.

A group of student journalists, headed by website editor Sydney Deatherage, began work over the summer 2009 to launch the site during this academic year’s first semester.  DartNewsOnline publishes content from The Dart, STA’s 69-year-old print newspaper, in addition to web-only content, such as interactive graphics, videos and audio.  Mr. Eric Thomas advises both publications.

The Dart newspaper earned a Pacemaker finalist designation for the work on its print newspaper during the 2006-2007 academic year.