Central Michigan Life wins national Pacemaker Award; first since 2006

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Central Michigan Life has been named a 2010 national Pacemaker winner for the first time in four years in its category.

Brian Manzullo, 2009-10 editor in chief, said the Pacemaker is considered the highest national achievement in collegiate journalism. CM Life won in the four-year non-daily newspaper category and was the only Michigan paper to be named.

“This is the first time we’ve won it since 2005-2006, so I’m extremely proud of the staff for that because … it’s a huge group effort to pull of that sort of achievement,” he said.

Chad Livengood, fall 2005 editor in chief of CM Life and reporter at The News Journal in Wilmington, Del., said this award puts CM Life among the best college newspapers in the country and reflects well on the journalism program at Central Michigan University.

“In terms of what this means for the staff, it is an overall recognition of the hard work and good journalism that CM Life reporters and editors practice day in and day out,” he said.

Though there are many categories, Manzullo said the Newspaper Pacemaker is the main one most student publications aim for.

The announcement was made Saturday at the 89th annual Associated Collegiate Press/College Media Advisers National College Media Convention in Louisville, Ky.

The Associated Collegiate Press chooses 22 college entries out of 300 to become finalists for the four-year, non-daily category.

Winners must demonstrate excellence in quality of writing and reporting, coverage and content, opinion page leadership, in-depth reporting, layout and design, photography, art and graphics, according to the ACP.

Livengood said college newspapers must submit random editions of their publication per the request from the ACP during the judging process.

“Winning the pacemaker is really a big deal because that shows that you have consistently good newspapers that you put out day in and day out as they select those dates that they judge by random,” he said.

CM Life was a Newspaper Pacemaker finalist eight times in the last nine years, and was a 2010 finalist for the first time in the Online Pacemaker category.

Manzullo said the achievement proves CM Life’s staff consistently delivers a respectable product despite the changing environment of the journalism industry.

It is difficult to juxtapose reporting, photography and design between a staff of 100 to 150 people, Manzullo said, but CM Life staffers are a passionate group who strive for perfection.

“Part of the challenge is making sure that all these parts come together on a consistent basis,” he said, “and even though (it publishes) just three times a week, CM Life is in a league of it’s own being able to do that.”

CM Life competed against several other colleges throughout the nation, including The Golden Gate Press from San Francisco State University, The Columbia Chronicle from Columbia College and The News-Letter from Johns Hopkins University.

“It was just great to see CM Life named among the best in the country,” Manzullo said. “I’m extremely proud of everybody because an award like this is not easy to get.”