11/8/02

Brian Daniels, 334/844-9999

AUBURN PLAINSMAN EARNS 21ST PACEMAKER AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE

AUBURN -- Auburn University's student-run newspaper, The Auburn Plainsman, has been awarded the Pacemaker for the fourth consecutive year by the Associated Collegiate Press.

The Pacemaker is the collegiate equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize and is given to college publications for excellence.

The Plainsman, the third most honored collegiate newspaper in the nation, was the only Alabama college newspaper this year to receive the award, its 21st since 1966.

The Daily Tar Heel of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and The Indiana Daily Student at Indiana University are the only other college newspapers that have won more Pacemakers than The Auburn Plainsman.

"Few college newspapers can match the impressive list of national awards and recognition that The Auburn Plainsman has earned," said Ed Williams, Plainsman advisor and professor of journalism at AU since 1985. The Plainsman staff of 2001 received the award, along with 17 other college newspapers, at the ACP national convention in Orlando.

The 2001 Plainsman editor, Napo Monasterio, relayed his comments in an email to Williams.

"I kept refreshing the ACP web site all Saturday afternoon, hoping they'd put it up there soon," Monasterio said. "I think it was a good year for The Plainsman. We got as much recognition as we could have, and I'm sure that it will go on with (current editor) Adam Jones and everyone else."

The Pacemaker is awarded annually to papers in three categories: four-year dailies, papers published daily for a four-year college; four-year non-dailies, papers not published daily at a four-year college; and two-year publications, papers for a two-year college.

The ACP is a nonprofit association for college student media, and it is a division of the National Scholastic Press Association, which has had college members since its inception in 1921.

The ACP is the oldest membership organization of its kind in the nation.

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CONTACT: Williams, 334-844-4607.