National honors for The Breeze, 22807 magazine and Madison 101

Two student publications have been named finalists for the Associated Collegiate Press' annual Pacemaker awards, one of the top honors in college media, and another has been honored as a finalist in a separate competition also run by the ACP.

The Breeze is one of two dozen non-daily, four-year university newspapers to be a finalist in the newspaper category. The twice-weekly student newspaper was a finalist last year and eventually won one of the coveted Pacemaker awards, making it one of the top 10 college newspapers in its category. The 2014 award was the first Pacemaker that The Breeze had won in more than 20 years. SMAD graduate Sean Cassidy ('15) was editor of The Breeze during both contest periods. 

22807 magazine, meanwhile, is one of 12 Pacemaker finalists in the feature magazine category. 22807 is a website and print magazine planned, created and published by the SMAD 321: Feature Magazine Production class. SMAD graduate Griffin Harrington ('15) led the project. Dr. David Wendelken, who retired in May, and Brad Jenkins, an adjunct SMAD instructor and general manager of The Breeze, advised the project.  

The Associated Collegiate Press also named Madison 101, also a SMAD 321 project, one of six finalists to win a Best Ad/Editorial Supplement award.

In all three categories, the JMU publications were the only in Virginia represented as finalists.

"We don't do what we do to win awards," Jenkins said, "but being recognized in this way validates the goal we have of producing top-knotch publications that give our students real-world experience. That experience then gives them an advantage when they graduate from the university."