Congratulations to the La Ventana for being named a 2020 Pacemaker Winner by the Associated Collegiate Press. ACP announced the winners during a virtual ceremony, Oct. 14 at the ACP/CMA the Fall National College Media Convention.
The national award is for yearbooks produced during the 2019-20 school year. Five collegiate publications were named finalists in July.
“The Pacemaker is the association’s preeminent award,” executive director Laura Widmer said. “ACP is honored to recognize the best of the best with Pacemaker honors.”
This is the eighth year in a row the La Ventana was an ACP Pacemaker Finalist. They won Pacemakers for the 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2020 yearbooks.
“I am so proud of the work my staff and I did for the 2020 Texas Tech yearbook,” editor-in-chief Davian-Lynn Hopkins said. “We wrapped up production in the middle of a pandemic that none of us were prepared for. But with the support of our advisers we were able to complete everything in time.”
This was editor-in-chief Davian-Lynn Hopkins’ final La Ventana. Hopkins was the editor for all four Tech yearbooks that won Pacemakers.
“The fact that four out of four of the yearbooks I was editor-in-chief of won Pacemakers shows the passion and dedication I have for journalism and editorial design,” Hopkins said. “And I believe what helped was I wasn’t making these yearbooks with the goal of winning awards. I was making them with the goal of accurately depicting the given year at our university.”
Hopkins said the 2020 book’s design was a visual embodiment of what was happening on campus and with the pandemic.
“The cover itself shows the passage of a year, which honestly is what the 2019-20 school year felt like,” Hopkins said. “We wanted to capture that the 2019-20 school year had its pops of color (fun moments), but also its black and white moments (sad moments). And I believe we did a great job capturing the essence of that school year.”
Congratulations Damian-Lynn and the entire La Ventana staff!
