PG High publications receive recognition

TEXARKANA, Texas — The 2020 edition of The Hawk yearbook was named a Pacemaker Finalist by the National Scholastic Press Association earlier this month.

The NSPA named 51 high school yearbooks from 18 states as finalists in its competition. In all, 380 student publications participated.

Twenty-two of the 51 finalists will earn the Pacemaker award, which will be announced on April 10 as part of the virtual JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism Convention.

The journalism department is advised by Charla Harris, who was the 2019 National High School Yearbook Adviser of the Year.

“It’s always nice to be recognized for your work, but getting recognized for last year’s yearbook is extra special,” Harris said. “The editors had decided early in the fall to do a spring delivery, meaning we would get the book in May rather than in July or August as in previous years. The staff worked extremely hard all year and finished the book the day before schools were shut down in March for COVID. “

Editors of The Hawk yearbook in 2019-2020 were Kathryn Davis, Presley Hargrove, Rachel Hemphill, and Olivia Rochelle.

“They did the proofs from home and finished without ever coming back up to the school again,” she said. “Since the yearbook printing plant was shut down as well, we had extra time so they added a lot of current events and COVID coverage to the supplement to help put the year in perspective.”

PG High student journalists also came home with more hardware on March 19, after winning the top national awards in the Scholastic Press Association Crown Ceremony. The awards were presented virtually from Columbia University.

The 2020 editions of The Hawk yearbook and the Edge newspaper received the Gold Crown award, the most prestigious award given by the CSPA with more than 852 publications entering the competition. This was the ninth consecutive year The Hawk has won the Gold Crown.

“I was extremely proud of the entire staff ’s dedication to the book and to each other — they never gave up even in challenging circumstances because they understand how important it is to tell the story of the students at PG during one particular year,” Harris said.