Every year, the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) honors publications from around the nation for their work and media output. This honor is known as the Pacemaker Award. The Pacemaker Award is awarded to a select few of publications based on certain criteria. Publications submit their publication for review to a board of judges provided by NSPA. These judges monitor the publication closely over several months before deciding finalists. When finalists are announced, their work is not over. The judges continue monitoring the publication until early April, where they will choose and announce the Pacemaker Award recipients.

On March 15, 2021, NSPA livestreamed a virtual announcement hosted by NSPA associate director Gary Lundgren. This livestream announced the Pacemaker finalists. HHS Media was recognized alongside 43 other publications as Online Pacemaker finalists.

“The Pacemaker is the association’s preeminent award. NSPA is honored to recognize the best of the best,” Executive Director Laura Widmer said in an article released by NSPA.

The Pacemaker Award is an award that goes through deep history. The award was created shortly after the founding of NPSA in 1921. The award evolved since then and added new categories, such as online, newsmagazine and yearbook. This year, for online specifically, 160 news websites were submitted. After submission, the websites were sorted into two different groups dependent on the population of the school the publication was based in. From here, a panel of three judges monitored every entry until they decided their winners.

Winners of the Online Pacemaker Award will be announced through a virtual livestream on April 10, 2021, at 1 p.m. CT.