Carmel High School student journalists earned individual Gold Circle Awards in nearly half of the online categories for which they were eligible from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA). Of the 16 total “Online” awards offered in the category, Carmel students who produce design and content for the HiLite Online Web site were eligible for nine of them (the rest of the categories being for digital yearbooks, magazines and digital editions). The awards, which judge individual achievement in several different categories, were announced on the CSPA Web site after the annual CSPA convention, which concluded on March 20, 2010. 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.”

These awards reflect entries produced between November 1, 2008 and October 31, 2009. Because CSPA dates its awards by the year in which they are given, they are known as the 2010 Gold Circle Awards for Online Media. The winners are as follows:

First Place

• Michelle Hu – Photo and audio sideshows for online news

Second Place

• Rosemary Boeglin and Michelle Hu – Secondary coverage for online news
• Michelle Hu and Emily Puterbaugh – Breaking online news

Third Place

• Mike Jiang and Nishanth Samala – Overall Web site design

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