by Erica Baumgardner '16

Members of Knox College's student-run newspaper, The Knox Student, recently attended the Associated College Press annual convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where TKS added a 2014 Pacemaker Finalist award to its growing list of accomplishments.

The national award recognizes overall excellence in collegiate journalism for college newspapers, considering the following set of criteria:

• Quality of Writing and Reporting

• Coverage and Content Leadership on the Opinion Page

• Evidence of In-depth Reporting

• Layout and Design Photography, Art and Graphics

TKS was competing in a category with other four-year college, non-daily newspapers, including publications from University of California at Los Angeles, Syracuse University, Temple University, George Washington University, and the College of William and Mary.

"It's an incredible honor to have been nominated for this award, and I believe it really reflects well on both TKS and Knox itself," said Kate Mishkin ‘16, managing editor of The Knox Student.

Mishkin attributes the success of TKS to its dedicated staff.

The TKS editor-in-chief for 2014-15 is Julian Boireau '15. The TKS advisor is Tom Martin.

When Martin accepted his position as advisor in 2009, he had high hopes for the publication's future. "I wanted the newspaper to be the best in its division in Illinois," Martin said. According to Martin, that goal has been met as the students have placed either first or second in General Excellence in the Illinois College Press Association contest for the past five years.

The paper quickly excelled beyond Martin's initial goals, as it began performing well in national contests when it was named 2013 Best All-Around Non-Daily Newspaper in a three-state region by the Society of Professional Journalists. "This year's Pacemaker award puts TKS in an elite group of the nation's top college newspapers," Martin added.

In recent years, TKS has won other national awards from the Associated College Press, including fourth place for News Story of the Year in 2013 and seventh place for Best of Show in its category in 2013. In addition, the publication has received numerous statewide awards from the Illinois College Press Association.