The Clarion staff received seven national awards at the Associated Collegiate Press National Convention held Oct. 25-29 in St. Louis, MO.

For the third consecutive year, The Clarion won the Newspaper Pacemaker Finalist Award, which recognizes "general excellence and outstanding achievement by a college newspaper."

The Clarion also received the Online Pacemaker Finalist Award for its website. It was the first award The Clarion has received for its website, which was redesigned last year by student Thomas Washbush.

Opinion editor Melissa Stelter was presented with a 2006 Story of the Year Award, an Honorable Mention in the Editorial category. She earned recognition for an editorial she wrote about the federal government infringing upon students' First Amendment rights.

Thomas Washbush, last year's design director, received two awards for work he did during the 2005-2006 school year. He received a second-place award in newspaper sports page design and a fifth-place award in advertisement design. His work is featured in the 14th edition of "The Best of Collegiate Design." In addition, The Clarion received a second-place Best-of-Show award for two-year colleges for its Sept. 13 issue and an honorable mention in the special section competition for its Halloween issue published on Oct. 11.