Several Carmel High School student journalists earned individual Gold Circle Awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA). The awards, which judge individual achievement in several different categories, were announced via e-mail from CSPA director Edmund Sullivan on Oct. 26, 2009. According to the CSPA Web site, “Gold Circle Awards are offered to recognize superior work by student journalists usually as individuals but sometimes as an entire staff working with either print or online media.”

This portion of the Gold Circle Awards attracted 8,091 entries from colleges, universities and secondary schools throughout the United States. The Carmel award-winners are as follows (students are currently on staff unless otherwise noted):

First Place

• Andrew Browning and Lily Zhao (Emerson College) – Sports page design: Broadsheet black and white
• Andrew Browning and Lily Zhao – Sports page design: Broadsheet format color

Second Place

• Michelle Hu – Personal opinion: Off-campus issues
• Stephanie Hodgin (Butler University) – Feature page design: Broadsheet format color

Third Place

• Staff – Overall design: Broadsheet format
• Michelle Hu and Michael Wang – News page design: Broadsheet format black and white
• Ariel Aisen (Washington University) and Jinny Zhang – Feature page design: Tabloid format color
• Min Qiao – Feature page design: Broadsheet format black and white
• Ariel Aisen and Jinny Zhang – Photo layout: Full page color

Certificate of Merit

• Reid Conner (DePauw University) and Maria LaMagna (Northwestern University) – Editorial page design: Broadsheet format black and white
• Stephanie Hodgin – Feature page design: Broadsheet format color
• Michelle Hu and Afra Hussain – Single-subject feature package, single page: Broadsheet format black and white

A complete list of winners can be found at the CSPA Web site.