The Mountlake Terrace High School student news website theHawkeye.org has been selected by the National Scholastic Press Association as a finalist in its prestigious Pacemaker competition.

“While this isn’t the first time the Hawkeye has been named a Pacemaker finalist, I can assure you that this never gets old and I couldn’t be more proud of these students and their work,” said MTHS instructor Vince DeMiero, who serves as the Hawkeye’s advisor.

The NSPA Pacemaker Award has a rich tradition, and the association started presenting the award to high school newspapers a few years after the organization was founded in 1921. Throughout the years, yearbooks, magazines, online sites and broadcast programs were added to the competition.

“The Pacemaker is the association’s preeminent award,” NSPA executive director Laura Widmer said. “NSPA is honored to recognize the best of the best.”

While the judges have named the Pacemaker finalists, the Pacemaker winners have not been selected. “The judging teams will now continue to study the sites named as Pacemaker finalists on a frequent basis,” said Gary Lundgren, associate director and coordinator of the Pacemaker competition. The Pacemaker winners will be selected shortly before they announced during the Spring National High School Journalism Convention in Nashville, receiving plaques Saturday, April 18, at the convention’s closing awards ceremony.

The 28 Pacemaker finalists represent 12 states. California, Missouri and Texas set the pace with five finalists each.

To select the 28 Pacemaker finalists, judges studied approximately 185 sites submitted from 30 states and three countries. The number of entries dropped slightly from 2019 when approximately 200 sites completed.

The sites competed in two categories, based on school population. Two teams of three judges studied every entry and analyzed its strengths. The status of each entry was agreed upon by at least two of the three judges.

In this competition, only the online news product was judged. The news sites were either digital companions to print newspapers and newsmagazines or online-only products. In all, 108 sites were companions to print newspapers and newsmagazines and 78 were online-only products.