For every professional journalist, The Pulitzer Prize is a dream come true, it is the highest possible award for any journalist, proving that you are the best of the best. However, that award is only for professionals, for high school student journalists, it’s a little different.

The National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker award is a tradition unlike any other. It is an award that has been around for almost a century. It is the highest possible award given to student journalists, and many say that it is the equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize for high school student journalists. And for the first time ever, the Innovation category for Pacemaker has officially made its way into the history books of Liberty High School and the Wentzville School District.

For about three months, Town Hall Executive Producers Emily Nguyen (12) and Will Nolan (12) worked to create a website that showcases Publications’ annual Town Hall event which promotes the upcoming School Board of Education candidates. The website showcased everything about the event, from  the history, a little information about what Town Hall is, the challenges and solutions the team encountered, what has changed from past Town Hall events.

“It was persistent and strategic work. Even before we gathered our team, Will and I were meeting almost every week for several months, starting at the beginning of the school year,” Nguyen said.

On March 4, the website titled, “By Students, For Students” was nominated as an Innovation Pacemaker Finalist for the second time in school history, along with five other schools from around the country including one school in London. The finalists consisted of five websites and one news show, showcasing the out of the box thinking that student journalists take during community events by creating a website, news show, and more. Shortly after the nomination, the annual event that the website was created for took place on March 19.

While the Town Hall event has only been around for six years, and the Publications program got its first Innovation nomination last year. The Pacemaker award has been around for almost 100 years. Since its inception in 1927, the Pacemaker award has showcased student journalists and the their out-of-the box thinking to improve services for their community.

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

The program finally broke through to the finalist spot last year after trying for many years, creating websites that showcased what Town Hall truly was and how it helped the Wentzville community. Every single year of the event, there has been a multitude of compliments explaining how much it helped community members decide on who to vote for. Teams spent months creating the website to promote the event and months planning Town Hall to get it perfect for the community. However, it never has broken through to win, until now.

“Creating our own website set the tone for the entire project, in that our event was something entirely student-led, student-run, and most proudly, student-created,” Nguyen said.