Last Thursday, a few newspaper and yearbook staff members from Manitou Springs High School took an annual trip to “Journalism Day” (J-Day), at Colorado State University. The staff was able to take courses on different journalistic aspects, ranging from Social Media to Ethics. After four 45-minute courses, all the attending schools congregated in the main ballroom for the awards ceremony.

In the past, many awards were given for subjects such as yearbook, news publication and video broadcasting. There were three different awards that each school could earn: the Award of Merit, Award of Commendation, and the All-Colorado Award. The Award of Merit is basic, a receiving publications included areas of inconsistency, but some level of professionalism. The Award of Commendation is rewarded to areas of journalism that show professionalism but are too inconsistent. The All-Colorado Awards were first presented in 2011, when they replaced the “Sweepstakes” awards. It is the highest award that is available. In past years, it was given to yearbooks, news publications and broadcasts.

After all of the Awards of Merit and Awards of Commendation were given out, Jack Kennedy, the president of the Colorado Student Media Association, surprised everyone by announcing that this year was the first year it would be awarded to a website. After lots of anticipation, he declared that The Prospector was the first and only winner of this award. Attendees from Manitou was ecstatic when they heard the announcement. The Editor-in-Chief, Lily Reavis (12), went to the stage to receive it.

“I was incredibly excited,” Reavis said. “I was kind of shocked, and I was really proud of all of the reporters that have worked on [The Prospector] in the past year.” Overall, the staff was very excited and proud to receive this award, and are very excited to see if they can achieve this award next year as well.