St. Teresa’s Academy’s online news site DartNewsOnline won the top honor for student journalism, The Pacemaker, during a convention Saturday in Portland, Oregon.  The National Scholastic Press Association narrowed the list of 26 finalists for the award to a group of 12 winners in the national competition.  This is the highest publication honor ever for St. Teresa’s Academy students.

The DartNewsOnline came online in August 2009, with editor-in-chief senior Sydney Deatherage leading a staff of five.  Other online staff members include seniors Kayla Loosen and Michelle Reichmeier, along with juniors Morgan Said and Betsy Tampke.  The web staff works to design and update the site using the content that 26 total staff members provide.

According to NSPA, the 2010 NSPA Online Pacemaker contest saw a dramatic increase of 70 percent in entry totals from the 2009 contest. 132 high school Web sites entered the 2010 contest. The judging team included professionals and educators with extensive online media experience, and they made their selections based on excellence in the following areas: content and coverage, site design, ease of navigation, interactivity/multimedia and writing and editing.

For the first time, entries were divided into two categories based on school enrollment.  The DartNewsOnline was recognized in the category of schools with fewer than 1,500 students.  The staff was the only publication in the state of Missouri to earn the distinction of Pacemaker.

Please join us in congratulating these students of the Dart!