PHOENIX — Seven publications, including the Online Gargoyle, won the National Scholastic Press Association's Online Pacemaker Award today at the organization's spring convention in Phoenix. The convention was co-sponsored by the Journalism Education Association.

This is the second time in three years that the OG has won an Online Pacemaker, the NSPA's top honor for online publishing. The Gargoyle has been a finalist for three consecutive years, winning its first Online Pacemaker in 2006-07.

The 2008-09 Gargoyle is co-edited by seniors Isaac Chambers, Elaine Gu, Jason He, Lauren Piester, Gordon Ruan, Rachel Skoza, and Lizzy Warner.

Assistant editors are juniors Sindha Agha, Katherine Allen, Erika Belmont, Laura Dripps, Danny Ge, Maritza Mestre, and Chris Yoder.

Journalism teacher David Porreca is the adviser.

The Online Pacemaker is awarded on the basis of overall excellence in writing, reporting, design, navigation, graphics, and interactivity. The entries were judged by journalists from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. According to the NSPA, "The judges commented that the top sites displayed clean, contemporary design and effective use of multimedia elements."

Concerning the Gargoyle, the judges said: "This is a beautiful piece of Web journalism. The design and color palette are clean and simple. The rotating Flash module at the top of the page gives a lot of information in little space. The images throughout the site were good and well used. Other good elements of the site include: upcoming events, sports updates, comments, staff blog, polls and video. The live blog from the Oscars also really stood out in my mind as going above and beyond for a high school newspaper. The Mixtape was another great use of technology. What a great idea for using audio — and also something a high school audience has a great level of interest in."

The other publications that won this year were:

• El Estoque
  Monta Vista H.S.
  Cupertino, Calif.
  Alice Lee, editor
  Michelle Balmeo, adviser

• SMES Express
  St. Margaret’s Episcopal School
  San Juan Capistrano, Calif.
  Nicki Yokota, adviser

• The HiLite
  Carmel H.S.
  Carmel, Ind.
  Yon-Sue Choi, editor
  Jim Streisel, adviser

• Wayland Student Press
  Wayland H.S.
  Wayland, Mass.
  Robin Kim, editor
  Janet Karman, Mary Barber, advisers

• Knight Errant
  Benilde-St. Margaret’s School
  St. Louis Park, Minn.
  Amelia Raether, editor
  Jason Wallestad, adviser

• FHNtoday.com
  Francis Howell North H.S.
  St. Charles, Mo.
  Katie O'Neil, editor
  Aaron Manfull, adviser

Judging for the awards began in mid-January. Fifteen finalists were announced in early March. Besides the seven publications that went on to win the Pacemaker, the other finalists were:

• The Feather
  Fresno Christian H.S.
  Fresno, Calif.
  Chelsea Joy, editor
  Greg Stobbe, adviser

• Redwood Bark
  Redwood H.S.
  Larkspur, Calif.
  Sophia Hussain, editor
  Tom Sivertsen, adviser

• Trident
  Corona del Mar H.S.
  Newport Beach, Calif.
  Connor Carreras, editor
  Laura Holk-Vaughnes, adviser

• The Paly Voice
  Palo Alto H.S.
  Palo Alto, Calif.
  Michael Bloch, Dan Schwartz, Grace La Pier, Connie Yang, Gillian Lui, editors
  Paul Kandell, adviser

• King’s Courier
  El Camino Real H.S.
  Woodland Hills, Calif.
  Dak Washbrook, Samantha Brockschmidt, editors
  Kimberly Messadieh, adviser

• Mustang Express
  Ponderosa H.S.
  Parker, Colo.
  Alec Loudenback, editor
  Anastasia Harrison, adviser

• The Harbinger
  Shawnee Mission East H.S.
  Prairie Village, Kan.
  Taylor Haviland, editor
  C. Dow Tate, adviser

• Edsman
  St. Edward H.S.
  Lakewood, Ohio
  Stephen Gacka, editor
  Tom Glasenapp, adviser

"More and more of the top high school journalism programs in the country are moving online, making the competition tougher each year," said Porreca. "I'm acutely aware of our shortcomings and of how much we can still improve, but I'm very glad our students received this recognition. I'm hopeful this will inspire next year's staff to put out an even better daily publication."