Columbia Scholastic Press Association

To help student print or online media improve their final product the Association offers its Medalist Critiques. Each year, student newspapers, magazines, yearbooks or online media are invited to submit issues or hyperlinks to the Association's experienced adviser-judges.

The Critique contains a written set of standards developed by the Association to itemize the best practices for student media. The adviser-judge reads the print or online publication and analyzes its strengths and weakness as described by the Critique. The judge writes out comments and makes constructive suggestions for building on current strengths and correcting deficiencies noted in the Critique.

The point of the Medalist Critiques is to offer specific instruction on how to improve student work. Staffs are free to accept or discard the specific suggestion of the adviser-judge since the Association is a voluntary membership program, not an accrediting body. However, the suggestions are made to help the staff make better use of its time, energy and money in reaching its readers or viewers.

The CSPA offered annual prizes for the best student newspapers and magazines in 1925 as part of its first activities. Yearbooks were added in 1935 and online media in 2005. By 1930, these early top prizes had given way to broad placings (First, Second Third and Fourth Place). Each publication that entered the annual competition was sorted into one of these placings by the judges, based on its achievement according to the Critique standards. Thus every publication received one of the placings with written suggestions for improvement. Beginning in 1932, the very best of First Places were chosen in a second round of judging as Medalists and limited to the top ten percent of annual entries.

With the creation of Crown Awards as CSPA's new highest recognition in 1982, the Medalist distinction changed in significance. In 1995 Gold Medalist, Silver Medalist and Bronze Medalist placings replaced the earlier designations of First, Second and Third Place.

Download forms

The 2010-2011 Regular and Associate membership form will be available on March 29, 2010.


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