Although the 2020 Columbia Scholastic Press Association Spring Convention was cancelled, the crown awards were still announced online.

This was the first year The Howl was a finalist and the staff was awarded the Silver Crown Award. The Southwest Shadow staff was awarded a Gold Crown Award.

“I’m really proud of last years book because we put so much creativity, time and effort into it,” The Howl yearbook editor Vanessa Robbins said. “It was the first yearbook I ever worked on and I love looking back on it and seeing everything we worked on for a year all together.”

The online newspaper and yearbook were judged by numerous judges before being deemed a winner. There were 15 finalists for digital news and 58 finalists for yearbook.

“After being awarded the Gold Crown award, it makes me feel like all the hard work and time we put into our website finally paid off,” Southwest Shadow Features Editor McKenna Thayer said. “The Gold Crown award gives us the reassurance we need to keep going and putting out more quality content.”