WKU News

College Heights Herald earns top national honors in multiplatform and newsmagazine categories; editor Anthony Clauson receives national student freedom of information award

WKU Student Publications at Western Kentucky University continued its remarkable record of national excellence this weekend, bringing home two prestigious Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker Awards at the 2026 National College Media Convention in Kansas City, Missouri.

The College Heights Herald newsroom captured the Multiplatform Pacemaker, considered the highest standard of excellence in college media, and the Newsmagazine Pacemaker. The multiplatform honor marks the Herald's third Pacemaker in that category in just four years.

In the spring, the Herald won the Online Pacemaker for WKUHerald.com, making its content the first to sweep all three publishing-quality categories in a single year.

WKU's Talisman life and culture magazine also earned national finalist recognition in two categories: multiplatform and feature magazine. It won the Feature Magazine Pacemaker in 2025.

The awards bring WKU Student Publications' all-time Pacemaker total to 55, dating to its first awards in 1978, when the Talisman was a yearbook, and 1981, when the College Heights Herald was a campus newspaper.

The organization's 55 Pacemakers include:

• 28 for the College Heights Herald
• 23 for the Talisman
• 4 for Cherry Creative and Student Publications Advertising

The distinction places WKU Student Publications among the most successful student media organizations in the nation. Its recent record is equally impressive: Since 2020, WKU Student Publications has won 18 Pacemaker Awards, more than any other student media group in the country during that period.

Presented by Associated Collegiate Press, the Pacemaker is widely regarded as the premier national award in college journalism and student media. Recognizing outstanding work across student newspapers, magazines and digital platforms, the awards have represented the highest level of achievement in collegiate media for more than a century.

Jake McMahon, a May 2026 graduate, was editor-in-chief of the College Heights Herald in 2025-26. Clarissa Dean, also a May 2026 graduate, was executive editor of the Talisman in 2025-26. Kayla White, a senior from Elizabethtown, is the current Talisman editor.

Adding to the weekend's accomplishments, the Student Press Law Center selected College Heights Herald Editor-in-Chief Anthony Clauson as the recipient of its 2026 Student Freedom of Information Award.

Clauson, a junior from Alvaton, was recognized for his reporting and investigative work uncovering problems with WKU's newest residence halls, demonstrating the important role student journalists play in holding institutions accountable and informing their communities.

Together, the Pacemaker Awards and Clauson's national recognition underscore the depth and breadth of WKU Student Publications' commitment to journalistic excellence, investigative reporting and public service.

The weekend's accomplishments reflect the extraordinary work of WKU's student journalists, designers, photographers, editors and creative professionals, whose work continues to establish a national standard for collegiate student media.

For more information: Chuck Clark, director, WKU Student Publications, chuck.clark@wku.edu, 270-745-4206.