For the second time this year, we’re a finalist for the Pacemaker Award from the Associated Collegiate Press – this time, for our Web site (www.gwhatchet.com). We were a winner of the Newspaper Pacemaker in the fall, and will find out the status of the online award next fall.

This is the first time we’ve earned recognition for the Online Pacemaker in our paper’s history, and it’s a big deal because it puts us in the top-20 of college newspaper Web sites nationwide.

According to the ACP, “Awards will be based on design, ease of navigation, writing and editing, graphics and interactivity.”

As former Web editor, I’m really proud of all our work in redesigning the Web site in the fall and continuing to expand its use – having regular updates for post-season basketball and posting breaking news as quickly as possible (best exemplified by the Trachtenberg retirement coverage). I’d like to single out Greg Gross, Web manager, and Kyle Stoneman, special designer, for being instrumental in coding and designing our main site, along with our blogs site.

Under the leadership of our new Web editor, Nadia Sheikh, along with Greg, our Web operations will hopefully only improve next year.

Check out our mention on the ACP’s Web site.