South’s yearbook, The Etruscan, received a Pacemaker and Best in Show award for its 2010-2011 yearbook “Choices” at the Journalism Education Association (JEA)/National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) national high school journalism convention April 15.

According to studentpress.org, the Pacemaker award is considered to be the highest honor of high school journalism. In the category of 353 or more pages, 14 books won a Pacemaker, with The Etruscan being the only book in Illinois to win.

According to Etruscan adviser Brenda Field, she felt proud of her staff, regardless of the awards they won, for producing a well-received book. According to studentpress.org, yearbooks are judged based on writing, editing, design, content, concept, photography, art and graphics.

“Putting a yearbook together […] is a tremendously arduous task, but when you accomplish putting the book together and then on top of that [are] recognized nationally by scholastic journalism organizations is just icing on the cake,” Field said. “[The awards give] another opportunity to celebrate, but in a different way. It’s fun to be able to do that.”

Kyle Redden, co-editor in chief of the Etruscan for the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 yearbook, was excited to win the award and see the yearbook staff’s hard work and effort pay off. This was the sixth time The Etruscan won a Pacemaker.

“Just having it recognized by the whole yearbook community at a national convention really puts into perspective how amazing the thing we create really is,” Redden said.

Along with winning a Pacemaker, “Choices” won Best in Show at the convention for yearbooks of 325 pages or more. All schools at the conference were eligible to enter their book in the contest. Etruscan editor Elizabeth Quinones was not expecting to win the award.

“We didn’t expect anything because the best books in the country are in that category so we were all talking and weren’t even paying attention to the announcer,” Quinones said. “All of a sudden we heard ‘number one, Etruscan,’ and I literally got tears in my eyes because I was so excited. I literally had no idea. It was such a shock but such an honor.”

“Choices” also received a Silver Crown award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) March 16. CSPA awards Gold and Silver Crowns to high school publications throughout the nation. According to cspa.columbia.edu, 44 yearbooks received a Silver Crown.

While Field was excited to win all the awards, she hopes the yearbook staff will continue to focus on creating a “history book” of each school year that students can look back upon and treasure.

“Our number one responsibility is to make sure we are reflecting the year accurately and that we’re telling stories that will matter now and will matter in 10 years from now, 15 years from now, and 20 years from now,” Field said. “So that’s our first goal and then to tell the stories of as many students as we possibly can throughout the course of that book and to make a book that reflects what the student body wants too.”