2026 Crown Awards: Announcement of Finalists

From December 9 through December 11, 2025, CSPA will announce finalists for Gold and Silver Crown Awards live on CSPA''s Facebook and Instagram (@cspanyc) feeds. All finalists will receive either a Gold or Silver Crown Award, to be presented Friday, March 20, 2026, at the CSPA 102nd Annual Spring Convention. Registration for the Spring Convention may be found here. 

The Crown Awards honor top student publications chosen from CSPA members. Crowns are selected for overall excellence in a head-to-head comparison by category. Student publications in news, magazine, yearbook, or online formats are all eligible. During Crown adjudication, publications are judged for excellence demonstrated through design, photography, concept, coverage, and writing. A total of 526 publications were eligible for judging in the 2026 competition.

Crown Awards are considered at Columbia by panels of invited judges, working in small groups to review each publication. The judging panel included: Ellen Austin, founder of Birch Avenue Creative, Rockford, IL; Alyssa Boehringer, ILPC Director, McKinney, TX; Jane Blystone, retired adviser, North East, PA; Judi Coolidge, retired adviser, Avon Lake, OH; Mary Kay Downes, retired adviser, Chantilly, VA; Brenda Gorsuch, retired adviser, Mills River NC; Kevin Lerner, Assistant Professor of Communication/Journalism at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY; Alan Murray, president and co-founder of Uncharted, Malvern, PA; Mark Murray, executive director, ATPI, Santa Fe, NM; Violet Turner, retired adviser, Chicago, IL, Randy Yeip data visualization director at Business Insider, Rochester, MI; Mitch Ziegler, retired adviser, Torrance, CA; and Kathleen Zwiebel, retired adviser, Pottsville, PA.

Finalists:
December 9, 2025: Magazines
December 10, 2025: News Publications
December 11, 2025: Yearbook

Learn more about CSPA Awards Programs and the Crown Awards here, and see past Crown Award winners  here. For more information about CSPA programs, please contact CSPA at cspa [[at]] columbia [[dot]] edu.