Last fall, The Cavalier Daily proved that it is not only setting the pace in college journalism, but leading the pack, by bringing home one of the most prestigious awards for student newspapers, the Pacemaker, for the first time in the paper’s history.

Awarded by the Associated Collegiate Press, the Pacemaker is given "in recognition of general excellence and outstanding achievement in a college newspaper," according to the ACP website.

"This is the big daddy of awards for us," said Mike Greenwald, Cavalier Daily editor-in-chief from 1999-’00. "It was really a defining moment for The Cavalier Daily."

The ACP chooses two random weeks during the year, and entrants from colleges across the country are allowed to submit their two best newspapers for each of those weeks. This year’s entries were judged by journalists from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

In The Cavalier Daily’s category, four-year dailies, 12 finalists were selected; six were awarded the coveted Pacemaker.

This year’s awards ceremonies were held at the National College Media Convention in Atlanta on Oct. 28-31.

The entire Managing Board attended the awards presentation. They left Thursday night after producing Friday’s paper. "The whole way down there, we didn’t think we were going to win," Greenwald said. "We knew the competition was going to be tough."

"We were all so nervous, just sitting there through the whole ceremony and after the long trip," then-Managing Editor Emily Kane said. "When they called our name, we just started screaming."

The Cavalier Daily was a finalist for the National Pacemaker Award once before in 1997, but did not win it that year. In 1990, the paper was named one of 13 Regional Pacemakers, the equivalent of a finalist at the time.

Greenwald attributes some of the victory to good timing. "One of the weeks they picked was during the University Judiciary Committee’s trial of Richard Smith," Greenwald said. Smith, son of FedEx Chairman Fred Smith, was given a two-year suspension from the University for assaulting fellow student Sandy Kory and later sued the University for damages.

"This was the kind of story that encompassed all the issues UVa. students must grapple with: honor, privileges, student self-governance and the question of whether an outside lawyer can represent someone at a UJC hearing," Greenwald said.

He added that the editorials were particularly strong in the issues selected and that they each contained more than 20 pages, as well as banner headlines and color photos.

"This was really just amazing," Greenwald said. "So many people worked toward this. Our staff just has so much to be proud of."

"Winning the Pacemaker says that the quality of both the writing and the CD’s visual appeal is competitive with newspapers at schools with strong journalism programs and financial resources," said Mandy Biles, who, as the CD’s managing editor from 1998-’99, oversaw the production of some of the winning papers.

"We are all really proud that others are able to recognize the paper’s quality and the volunteers that make it such a fine product," Biles added.

Greenwald and Kane both commented that The Cavalier Daily was the only major paper in the competition that did not have a faculty adviser.

"It was bizarre," Greenwald said. "Everyone kept asking us what our adviser would recommend in certain situations, and we just didn’t have an answer for them." Longtime CD Receptionist Sharon Bradley was listed on applications requiring an adviser.

In other award news, The Cavalier Daily also reined in 11 of this year’s Virginia Press Association awards, including third place overall for general makeup and five for sports reporting.