Announcing the CSPA Centennial Awards

To mark its centennial year in 2025, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association will honor individuals who have profoundly contributed to and have had a sustained impact on scholastic journalism education. The Centennial Awards will be given in five categories: Innovation, Impact, Lifetime Achievement, CSPA Service, and the CSPA Alumni Achievement Award, in lieu of CSPA regular annual awards. 

CSPA will not award the Murphy, O’Malley, Paschal, or Gold Key Awards this year. The Sullivan Award will be given at the discretion of CSPA.

Preference will be given to entrants with a solid and enduring connection to CSPA.

Candidates may be nominated by others, or they may nominate themselves. Applications will open December 4, 2024, and will close January 5, 2025. Winners will be announced on or about January 31, 2025.

AWARD DESCRIPTIONS

Innovation
The recipient of this award has introduced new and ingenious ideas, methods, a service, or processes that have resulted in educational/informational value for their students, schools, communities, and /or scholastic journalism overall. The awardee does not have to be a teacher or adviser, but their work or industry must somehow be tied to student media.

Impact
This award will recognize an individual who has made a measurable impact on students, school, community, industry, and/or colleagues through their dedication to their work and those they serve. 

Lifetime Achievement in Scholastic Journalism
This award will be given to a member or members of the scholastic journalism community who have spent their professional lives serving the educational ideals for which we all strive: teaching the importance of, and ultimately the preservation of, a free press in our democratic society. 

CSPA Service
This award will recognize individuals who have for years, and in some cases decades, supported CSPA in its mission of educating members of the student press to uphold the highest standard of journalism. This award will be given at the discretion of CSPA. No nominations will be accepted.

CSPA Alumni Award
CSPA is proud of its program participants. Many who have attended our programs have gone on to success elsewhere, whether in journalism or other industries. This award recognizes an individual for whom the teachings, skills, and values of journalism and CSPA have contributed to success in their current work.

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