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 honor individuals in five categories: Innovation, Impact, Lifetime Achievement in Scholastic Journalism, CSPA Alumni Achievement Award, and CSPA Service. CSPA wishes to thank its Centennial advisory board and Centennial Awards committee for their hard work and dedication to this momentous task.
All awardees are invited to attend a special luncheon on Friday, March 21, 2025, at the CSPA 101st Annual Spring Convention and Centennial celebration, where they will be honored for their service.
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.
WINNERS
Paul Ender
Paul Ender has paved the way for innovative design for decades. Both as an adviser of the award-winning yearbook The American and as a consultant for Varsity Yearbook, Paul was able to coach and inspire students and advisers to look beyond the obvious to utilize design trends to their best advantage. His work with MODS was legendary, as was his instruction at both the CSPA SJW and numerous national conventions.
Crystal Kazmierski
As past adviser of Wings yearbook at Arrowhead Christian Academy, Crystal Kazmierski was well-known for innovative design and especially for promoting extraordinary writing by her students. Each copy of Wings was a treasured jewel to be read and reread. She also taught for years at the CSPA SJW and presented at numerous conventions while pairing up with other noted advisers around the country.
Mark Murray
Mark Murray is not only a preeminent teacher and photography consultant but also active with many journalism press associations in addition to CSPA. He is the executive director of the Association of Texas Photography Instructors and is well-known for his sessions at national conventions on such topics as the Power of Light. His photos taken at conventions and on European trips are inspirational and treasured.
Antonio Rodriguez
Antonio Rodriguez’s interest in journalism began when he was a writer on his high school newspaper and attended a CSPA convention. The experience led him to apply to Columbia College, where he was accepted and later earned his B.A. in political science. While he was a student, he worked at CSPA and upgraded all the association’s workflow systems. After he was hired, he led the organization’s transition online, and established publishing and judging platforms. He has long been a proponent of arts journalism education. He created the Stringers program for NYC students and every year he organizes the Broadway excursion during the Summer Journalism Workshop, including a press conference with staff and actors. He is currently the associate director of Columbia Scholastic Press Association.
Laura Schaub
Laura Schaub is a scholastic journalism legend. From her days at the University of Oklahoma, where she was advising award-winning publications and directing the Oklahoma Interscholastic Press Association, to her work with advisers and staffs across the country, she has inspired strong design, great photography, and wonderful writing. She has served CSPA in multiple roles over the years—as a Crown judge, writing publication critiques, as a summer workshop instructor, and speaking at fall and spring events. As president of CSPAA, the advisers association of CSPA, she and executive director Edmund Sullivan attended the Supreme Court hearing to witness the decision in Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier. In 2003, she created the very first Crown winners report for members, assembling examples from every Gold and Silver Crown publication and creating slideshows for advisers to share with their staffs.
School Newspapers Online [SNO] Sites
In 2008, when former journalism adviser Jason Wallestad was looking for an online publishing platform for the newspaper he advised, the Knight Errant, he teamed up with Tom Hutchinson to find a solution. The two developed what would become School Newspapers Online Sites, known by the acronym SNO. Today, more than 3,000 schools across the U.S. and internationally use the platform. Since its founding, the organization has grown to also provide guidance for student publications and, through the Best of SNO Awards, recognizes excellence in scholastic journalism.