Nov. 15,  2004

(IRVING, TEXAS) The News-Register, North Lake College’s campus newspaper, was one of 25 college newspapers across the nation to receive the coveted Pacemaker Award from the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP).

Only three Texas colleges were 2004 Pacemaker winners - North Lake, Southern Methodist University and San Antonio College.

First given in 1926, the Pacemaker honors those who set the pace, surpassing all others, and is the highest honor ACP gives to its members. The Pacemaker competition is co-sponsored by the Newspaper Association of America. “The judges this year told me that the entries, as usual, were exceptional,” said Chad Rummel, contest coordinator and meeting planner for the ACP, in an email to the News-Register’s advisor, Kathleen Stockmier.

It was the first year for the News-Register to enter the competition, and Editor Josh Bohling was in Nashville to accept the award. “The Pacemaker is like winning the Pulitzer at the college level,” said Bohling, who now attends the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) where he is the design editor for The Shorthorn, the award-winning UTA campus newspaper. “It is very, very, very cool.”

“It has been a banner year for the News-Register,” stated Kathleen Stockmier, the newspaper advisor. “In April, we won Best Overall Newspaper in our category and 10 other awards from the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association (TIPA).” The TIPA competition is limited to Texas colleges, and two-year schools compete with four-year schools of the same size.

The News-Register also received awards at the Texas Community College Journalism Association (TCCJA) 2004 convention in Houston in October. Membership in TCCJA is limited to two-year colleges across the state. Since 1998, North Lake’s campus newspaper has received 76 awards for journalism excellence.

For more information about the News-Register and the journalism program at North Lake College, call 972-273-3498.