Putnam City High School Yearbook Wins National Awards

Putnam City High School’s yearbook, Treasure Chest, was twice honored as one of the nation’s best during an awards ceremony in early April at the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) National Journalism Convention in Seattle.

Treasure Chest, advised by Putnam City High Teacher Sam Effinger and edited by student Jeff Schmidt, was honored with the elite Pacemaker award, which recognizes outstanding journalism in high schools and junior highs across the country.

The 450 entries in this category were evaluated by a panel of judges who are experts in the scholastic journalism field. The yearbooks were evaluated based on theme/concept, photography/art, design, writing/editing and coverage/content. In February, those 450 were narrowed down to just 68 finalists.

"To be a Pacemaker book, you have to not only serve your student body, but you have to push the envelope and provide cutting-edge journalism," says Chad Rummel, NSPA contest coordinator. "A yearbook is more than just putting together pictures and words, and these students have gone above and beyond to produce a high-quality book."

The Pacemaker award has been given since 1927, and is often referred to as the Pulitzer Prize of student journalism. The Pacemaker is the highest honor that NSPA can give.

In addition, Treasure Chest was recognized as “Best of Show” for high school yearbooks between 225 and 274 pages in length.

"I’m very excited that our book received these awards. Everyone who was on last year's staff worked hard and deserves a large part of the credit. It was a great feeling to receive these awards for our school," says Schmidt, who attended the convention and was one of only two student presenters.

The awards continue a string of honors for Treasure Chest. The yearbooks was inducted into the NSPA Hall of Fame in the fall and won sweepstakes as the best book in the state of Oklahoma at the fall conference of the Oklahoma Interscholastic Press Association.

"I am particularly proud of the students who worked on the 2004 Treasure Chest. Few people realize just how much work and extra hours go into producing a book that can win such a prestigious honor. To win both a Pacemaker and a Best of Show is just incredible,” says Effinger.

Student contributors to the 2004 Treasure Chest included Mary Floyd, Jeremy Causey, Dustin Townsend, Rikki Fine, Zack Meinecke, Jessica Billings, Heather Spencer, Katie Miles, Dani Troyer, Mallory Turner, Allison Evans, Cord Butler, Desiree Bowser and Alisha Watkins.