The ODYSSEY Media Group 2017-18 Leadership Team members (from left to right) Lucia Bermudez, Delia Adamson, Jordan Rhym, Suncana Pavlic and Aneesa Conine-Nakano pose with the ODYSSEY Media Group adviser David Ragsdale at the 2018 Southern Interscholastic Press Association Spring Convention. Adamson, a current freshman at Georgia Southern, was the ODYSSEY Media Group Managing Editor during her senior year at CCHS and is proud to be nominated for a National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker. “This award is considered to be one of the highest honors in student journalism and I believe that everyone within the ODYSSEY Media Group has earned it,” Adamson said. “Every staff writer, photographer, editor and videographer has contributed to the success of the program and the nomination for this award.” Photo by Owen Donnelly
The National Scholastic Press Association announced nominees for its highest honor, the Pacemaker award. Clarke Central High School’s student newsmagazine was named a nominee.
On Sept. 7, the ODYSSEY Newsmagazine was named a finalist for the National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker award in the newspaper category.
The Pacemaker is presented yearly, with finalists judged on a variety of criteria. As a finalist, the ODYSSEY Newsmagazine will be in a pool of 67 other finalists.
“Entries are judged by teams of professionals based on the following criteria: coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership, design, photography and graphics,” reads the NSPA website.
ODYSSEY Media Group 2018-19 Co-Editor-in-Chief Katie Grace Upchurch believes that, while awards are not the staff’s primary goal, national recognition is important to staff members.
“I would say that for a program, it’s not really about the award or anything like the Pacemaker, but it is nice when we receive recognition like this because it allows us to see that people are aware of the work that we are doing,” Upchurch said.
Publications of the ODYSSEY Media Group have been nominated for and won the Pacemaker in the recent past. The ODYSSEY Newsmagazine was previously named a Pacemaker Finalist in 2009, 2011 and 2016. The magazine was named a winner in 2011, and the staff’s website was named a winner in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2018. The Iliad Literary-Art Magazine was named a Pacemaker in 2010.
CCHS 2018 graduate Delia Adamson was the ODYSSEY Media Group’s Managing Editor her senior year and was on staff when the magazine was nominated in 2016.
“In my eyes, there are two main honors of being a student journalist. The first is a Pacemaker nomination because it is the highest honor you can receive as a journalist within your publication (field),” Adamson said. “The second is knowing that there are people out there reading and seeing your work. To know that the work you are doing is important and being recognized is one of the best feelings in the world.”
The 2017-18 ODYSSEY Media Group production class poses for a group picture outside of the Clarke Central High School ceremonial entrance. The staff produced the ODYSSEY Newsmagazine, which is now in consideration for the National Scholastic Press Association’s Pacemaker Award, which ODYSSEY adviser David Ragsdale attributes to senior leadership. “Our Leadership Team worked diligently to foster an environment whereby students could achieve as writers and I give them credit for that,” Ragsdale said.
For ODYSSEY adviser David Ragsdale, the award is a benchmark to measure scholastic journalism and he commends the students who made the award nomination possible.
“It sets a bar for excellence in the field of scholastic journalism. It gives us something to shoot for, something to measure ourselves by and is due, in large part, to the leadership of outstanding seniors who led last year,” Ragsdale said. “Our Leadership Team worked diligently to foster an environment whereby students could achieve as writers and I give them credit for that.”
While Adamson is excited for last year’s staff being recognized, she has high hopes for the 2018-19 staff.
“This years’ new staff is full of such great people. Great writers, great photographers and great leaders,” Adamson said, “I know without a doubt they will continue to do amazing things.”
