Columbia Scholastic Press Association

Founded in 1925, the Association unites student editors and faculty advisers working with them to produce student newspapers, magazines, yearbooks and online media. Students come from public, private and church-related schools and colleges throughout the United States and from overseas schools following an American plan of education. The Association is owned by Columbia University and operated as a program affiliated with its Graduate School of Journalism.

The Columbia Scholastic Press Association serves student journalists as follows:

• to make clear expression the standard for success;
  
• to maintain the student media for students, by students and containing news of students;
  
• to conduct contests and offer awards to make student media better than they were; and
  
• to recognize that journalism can be a means towards broader understanding of society and people.

The Association is a voluntary membership-based organization. Although it publishes standards and gives awards to recognize superior performance by its members, it is neither a testing nor an accrediation agency.

Using the CSPA Seal

The seal must appear as it appears here. You may not crop the seal and use the crown alone.

You have the option of displaying the seal in color or in greyscale. Avoid converting the color seal to grayscale, the bronze color in the seal will fade and not reproduce well.

Use the logo when your publication promotes your membership in CSPA or when making announcements about awards from CSPA.

Download the color version here:

Download the black and white version here:

History of the Seal:

(Reprinted from the 1963 Scholastic Convention program)

About the CSPA Seal

This seal of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association is familiar to you whether you be an adviser or a staff member of a school newspaper, magazine or yearbook.

It has its roots in history. The crown at its top is a symbol of King’s College which was formally established by royal charter on October 31, 1754. It was the first such collegiate institution in the Province of New York and the fifth in the American colonies.

When the college reopened after the Revolution in 1784, the name Columbia became part of the institution’s corporate name. DeWitt Clinton, enrolling on May 17 of that year, enjoys the distinction of being Columbia College’s first student.

“Columbia Scholastic Press Association 1925” serves as frame for the seal. Inside the frame is Low Memorial Library, a gift from Columbia’s President Seth Low in memory of his father. When the landmark was being erected on Morningside Heights in 1896, the Trustees authorized the institution’s present title: Columbia University in the City of New York. The architect of the seal was Professor James Kip Finch, later Dean of Columbia's School of Engineering and Applied Science.