Carmel High School’s 2009-10 Pinnacle yearbook was named a Gold Medalist with All-Columbian Honors by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) in the organization’s 2010 publications critique.

The evaluation is completed anonymously by faculty publications advisers affiliated with CSPA who consider categories such as concept, coverage, writing, photography and design. The Pinnacle yearbook scored 932 out of 1000 points overall, scoring highest (386/400) in the verbal category. Category scores that ranked in the 95th percentile qualified for All-Columbian Honors in that category.

According to the critique commentary, “The strongest element is writing and accompanying research…[this is] the best the judge has seen in the 2010 judging season for 398-pages plus supplement. A massive production done well.”

This publications evaluation was created at Columbia University (NY) in 1925 as a way to professionally evaluate student-edited publications. The yearbook category was added to the competition in 1935. The CSPA web site describes the purpose of the critique as a method to “offer specific instruction on how to improve student work.”

Editors of the 2009-10 Pinnacle were Kathryn ‘Kati’ Feller (Purdue University) and Cindy Brentlinger (University of Dayton).

The 2008-09 yearbook was a CSPA Silver Medalist with All-Columbian Honors. Both publications were advised by Nicole Wilson.