November 08, 2004

Bowling Green, Ky. - The Talisman, Western Kentucky University's yearbook, has reclaimed its status as one of the country's top college yearbooks.

The 2003 Talisman, the first yearbook since it ceased publication in 1996, won the National Pacemaker Award on Saturday at the National College Media Convention in Nashville.

Only six yearbooks were national winners in the competition sponsored by Associated Collegiate Press. The Pacemaker Awards are considered the Pulitzer Prizes in college publications. The other winners were Indiana University, Kansas State, Ouachita Baptist University, Northwest Missouri and the University of Evansville.

Stephanie Gladney, a print journalism major, was editor of the 2003 Talisman. She is a page designer and copy editor at the Lexington Herald-Leader.

The National Pacemaker is the Talisman's eighth. The Talisman Xposure received a National Pacemaker the year before it ceased publication.

The 2004 Talisman finished second in the Best of Show competition at the convention. The Citadel yearbook from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif., placed first. The Best of Show competition is open to all schools that attend the national convention, which attracted about 2,700 students and advisers.

J. Michael Moore, a senior print journalism major from Franklin, Tenn., was editor of the 2004 yearbook. He is interning this fall with the Houston Texans of the National Football League.

Bob Adams and Jackie Bretz are advisers for the Talisman. Jo Ann Thompson is Student Publications business manager.

The College Heights Herald online publication wkuherald.com was a Pacemaker finalist.

Photographer Ryan Long, a senior photojournalism major from Bowling Green, won first place in the ACP News Picture of the Year for his coverage of the women's protest march in April in Washington, D.C.

Both the Herald and Talisman won awards in the Best of Collegiate Design competition. An ad designed by Matt Rountree, a graduate student from Elizabethtown, placed first in the advertisement category and another ad designed by Katie Hollenkamp, a junior from Prospect, and Michael Reuter, a graduate from Gardendale, Ala., was second.

The Herald placed first in photo page/spread for a collection of "best of" pictures and wkuherald.com placed second in the online main page presentation category. Lee Fisher, a sophomore print journalism major from Mayfield, was the designer.

Talisman designer Tony Davis, a public relations graduate from Louisville, placed third in student life spread for "Taking a Stand" in the 2003 Talisman. Gladney placed first in academic spread for her design of "One Singular Sensation" and fourth in organizational spread for "Any Day of the Week" I'd Rather be Greek."

Katie Clark, a junior public relations major from Bowling Green, placed second for her individual spread "Rising Stars." Clark, who has worked on the Talisman every year since its rebirth, was a designer in 2003, design editor in 2004 and is editor-in-chief of the 2005 Talisman.

Clark designed The Best of Collegiate Design 12 book that is distributed to college publications across the country. Adams, director of Student Publications and Herald and Talisman adviser, is contest coordinator and editor of the book.

For more information, contact Bob Adams at (270) 745-6278. More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.