The Aggieland 2013 Yearbook received what is considered student journalism’s highest honor, the Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker Award, at the 93rd National College Media Convention in Philadelphia on Saturday.
The Pacemaker was created in 1927. Professionals judge yearbook entries for their journalism, photography and design.
Kalee Bumguardner, editor-in-chief of the 2013 Aggieland and communications specialist for athe Association for Student Conduct Administration, said she could not be more proud about the team receiving the award.
“We put in so many hours just making sure that the yearbook looked as good as possible, it’s just a really great tribute to the 2012-2013 year,” Bumguardner said.
Although she said she did the yearbook for the students, Bumguardner said she still feels proud to have other colleges and design specialists from around the country recognize A&M in this way.
Matthew Wong, Class of 2014 and photo editor for Aggieland 2013, said he feels this award testifies to the continued excellence of Texas A&M as a whole.
“We are more than just a university — we are an idea — the idea that in all our diversity we remain united as a student body,” Wong said. “I can only be proud of our entire team who made this possible but also to the students as well.”
Ashley Hildebrandt, communication senior and assistant editor for Aggieland 2013, said she is honored to be a part of the team that made the yearbook possible. Hildebrandt, who was editor-in-chief for the 2014 yearbook, said seniors and recent graduates still easily remember the events documented in Aggieland 2013, but said yearbooks become more sentimental for Aggies down the road.
“We have people that will email us and ask about something that happened and ask if we can look back and find pictures of something that happened while they went to school here,” Hildebrandt said. “So it’s later down the road that our hard work pays off and that it becomes useful because, for people that are graduating, the things that happened are easy to remember, but later on down the road you start to forget and having something tangible like a yearbook really helps you to preserve those memories and keep them later on in life when you tend to forget those things.”