After a year of writing, conducting interviews, publishing hundreds of articles and hours spent on InDesign and Photoshop, the hard work from the 2022- 2023 school year paid off with Common Sense being awarded the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) Silver Crown award, as well as six Gold Circle awards to individual staff members.
Last school year after the seniors graduated, the new editorial team took on the daunting task of sorting through every article and print design from the year to determine what work would be submitted to CSPA across almost 70 categories. “We wanted to pick our articles that we felt best represented the hard work of our staff,” current editor-in-chief Maria Sofronas said.
In the fall, Common Sense was informed it was a Crown Award finalist. The Crown Awards differ from the individual awards as they are given to publications for their excellence as a whole, and not for specific aspects. “The Crown Awards are the highest recognition given by the CSPA to a student print or digital medium for overall excellence,” according to the CSPA website.
On Mar. 15, CSPA released the Crown Award winners, with Common Sense receiving a Silver Crown. The only other high school publications in Maryland to receive this honor are Richard Montgomery with a Silver Crown, Blair with a Silver Crown, and Jewish Day school with a Gold Crown. Six individual students in Common Sense also won CSPA Gold Circle awards, with Common Sense winning 15% of the Gold Circle awards given to Maryland students. “I was super excited, it felt great to know others recognized the work we’ve been putting into Common Sense for years,” Sofronas said.
In Common Sense adviser Evva Starr’s long career as both a newspaper and yearbook adviser, this is the first time her publication has ever received a Silver Crown Award. “When we won the Silver Crown, honestly I felt vindicated, because it was the first time I’ve ever won a Crown Award in 12 years of yearbook and somewhere around 20 years of newspaper. I feel like we’ve been at that level for a really long time, so it felt like, finally, we are being seen for what we do,” Starr said.
Of the six Gold Circle articles won, junior Noah Friedman received first place in the General or Humor Commentary category for his article “You Should Take More Active Role in the Direction of Your Roll,” which focused on the debate over which direction your toilet paper should face. “It was a big surprise but it felt really good. It’s awesome to have your work recognized and encourages you to keep putting your best into each article,” Friedman said.
Junior Claire Lenkin also won a Gold Circle award for third place in the Sports Commentary category for her article “The Dangerous Game of Sportswashing.” “I was so excited to hear that I won an award because everyone on the paper works so hard throughout the year on our articles and the magazine, so it’s always nice to be recognized for work that you did,” Lenkin said.
The 2024 awards are for the previous year’s publication, so the rest of the Gold Circle award winners are 2023 graduates. Opinion Editor Emeritus Issac Muffet won second place in the Personal Opinion: On-Campus Issues category for his article “Girls Speak Out Against Male Students Rating Female Classmates Based on Looks.” Sports Editor Emeritus Chris Castelli won a Certificate of Merit in the General or Humor Commentary category for his article “The Monthly Munch: ‘One Chip Challenge’ Best Competitors.” Kate Hawley, editor-in-chief emeritus, won third place in the Typography: A Designed or Art Headline for her print design of the headline “ChatGPT, Write an Article About Yourself.” And Editors-in-Chief emeritus Julia Lvosky and Rae Weinstein won a Certificate of Merit in the Design: Portfolio of Work for their cover designs. “The six individual awards I was super excited about because that’s the most we’ve ever won. Even to win one or two is such a huge accomplishment, so I was so excited to win six. I felt like that was a really good recognition of how hard we worked and I was surprised we didn’t win more,” Starr said.
A majority of the Gold Circle winners are now in college and some have continued their student journalism, working for their college publications. However, when Common Sense was informed of the news, they were quickly alerted. “When I found out that Common Sense won a Silver Crown I was ecstatic. The dedication and hard work that the staff put in last year truly paid off, and receiving this award is an amazing recognition of our team,” Lvosky, a freshman at Vanderbilt University, said.
As Common Sense nears the end of this school year, the new editorial team will begin the process of submitting this year’s work to CSPA and hopes for similar results. “Once the judging organization, CSPA, gets you on their radar, I think they look at you in more of a favorable light. So once you start winning, it’s a little easier to continue winning. We did win five [Gold Circle Awards] last year and I think that shows were getting on their radar. For many years newspaper progressed, progressed, but we always had weaknesses in a couple areas and I don’t think we really have weaknesses in any areas anymore. I think we’ve risen to a level where we’re just consistently producing very high quality work,” Starr said.
