a stack of Chimes newspapers


Last fall, the 2010-11 staff of The Chimes made history. The weekly student newspaper was selected for a Pacemaker award by the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP), a prestigious national award honoring only 13 colleges and universities in the four-year, non-daily category.

Individual reporting, photography and design have won The Chimes numerous awards over the years from the Southern Baptist Convention and the California College Media Association. But the Pacemaker is a first in Chimes history, ranking it alongside the best college newspapers in the country, and placing it — and Biola — in the national spotlight.

The Chimes was selected for the honor along with schools like George Washington University, Boston College, San Francisco State University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Three issues were submitted to the ACP for the contest last spring. Judges evaluated the entries based on quality of content, evidence of in-depth reporting, leadership on the opinions page, layout and design, and art, photography and graphics. Finalists and winners were placed in one of three categories: four-year dailies, four-year non-dailies and two-year colleges.

The 2010-11 staff included Kathryn Watson, editor-in-chief; Harmony Wheeler, news editor; Tiffany Sun, features editor; Jeff Koch, opinions editor; Nathan Palatsky, sports editor; Amanda Warner, copy editor; Callie Miller, copy editor; Elizabeth Sallie, managing Web editor; Patricia Diaz, Web content editor; Kelsey Heng, photo editor; Cody Wagner, multimedia editor; and Sarah Grunder, production editor.