Spotlight and bdspotlight.com were named a 2025 Silver Crown winner from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association on March 21. Spotlight won in the hybird news magazine category, meaning the print edition and online news site were judged together.
A Silver Crown is the second highest honored given by CSPA.
CSPA also announced its individual award winners for 2024 over spring break. Ben Davis winners included:
Joleth Herrera — Third place in sports writing for “Giants complete the goal”
Stephanie Phillips — honorable mention in feature photo for a photo she took of Coach Vanderbush
Lynden Johnson — honorable mention in graphics for “Music — the gift that keeps on giving”
Joleth Herrera and Danielle Shumar — honorable mention for news briefs writing
Lynden Johnson — honorable mention for graphic portfolio of work
Joleth Herrera and Lynden Johnson — honorable mention for cover design for “Music — the gift that keeps on giving”
Joleth Herrera — honorable book mention in feature writing for “Johnson talks latest book and book banning”
CSPA had 5,645 individual entries from across the globe.
The Women’s Press Club of Indiana (contest time frame for work published Feb 1, 2024-January 31, 2025) also announced its winners over spring break. Ben Davis winners included:
Jayden Shupe — honorable mention sports story for ‘Mr. 700”
Joleth Herrera — honorable mention sports story for “Giants Come Up Short”
Lucas Allison — first place review writing for “They call it a ‘royale with cheese’”
Lucas Allison — third place review writing for “’Dune’ Part 2 worth the wait”
Lynden Johnosn — honorable mention cartooning for “Where do you go for news?”
Hunter Roberts — honorable mention graphics for “Decision 2024”
Paola Chavez — first place yearbook photo for “It’s Time to Party”
Alexis Justos — second place yearbook photo for Alexis Justos for “Happy Times”
Paola Chavez — third place yearbook photo for “Tangled”
Ollie Christian and Natalie Wilhite — second place yearbook layout for “ROTC Training”
Ollie Christian — honorable mention yearbook copywriting for “The Dark Side of the Moon”
Lucas Allison — honorable mention for editorial writing.
Allison and Chavez’s first place winners advance to national competition.