Golden Gate [X]press Online receives 2005 Online Pacemaker award for second straight year

SAN FRANCISCO, December 1, 2005 -- San Francisco State University's student-run news Web site has received the prestigious Online Pacemaker award, for the second consecutive year, from the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP), a national association of college student media.

[X]press Online is the Web component of [X]press Publications, which is based in the SFSU Journalism Department and also publishes a weekly newspaper and monthly magazine.

The Pacemaker is the highest honor for collegiate journalism given annually by ACP to college newspapers, magazines and Web sites. ACP first presented the Online Pacemaker award to online college student publications in 1995. The awards are regarded as the Pulitzer Prizes of college journalism.

[X]press Online was recognized for the 2004-05 academic year, with journalism major Matias Cavallin as editor. Ten other college news Web sites nationwide won Pacemakers, including those at Harvard University and University of California, Los Angeles. Entries were judged on design, ease of navigation, writing, editing, graphics and interactivity.

"I believe it's an endorsement of our department's philosophy to teach and encourage students to produce multimedia journalism," said Rachele Kanigel, lead adviser of [X]press Publications and assistant professor of journalism.

[X]press Online is produced by about 30 student editors, writers, designers and photographers.

Faculty adviser Andrew DeVigal and the students believe that the Web site stands out among online college publications due to its multimedia content and ability to focus on local news. The Web site goes beyond text and photos, incorporating multimedia elements -- video, audio, interactive graphics and reader feedback -- on a regular basis.

"Most student publications can deliver text stories pretty easily but we're one in a few that deliver multimedia stories regularly," said DeVigal, an assistant professor of journalism.

[X]press Online is also one of the first student publications to offer a podcast -- a video or audio file published on the Internet that can be downloaded onto a portable device such as an iPod.

The Associated College Press is a division of the National Scholastic Press Association. Established in 1933, it is the largest and oldest national membership organization for college student media in the United States. Winners of the Pacemaker awards were announced in October at the National College Media Convention in St. Louis.