By Grace Tapia

The Kentucky Kernel is one of 18 finalists for the Associated Collegiate Press’ Pacemaker award, a recognition often compared to a Pulitzer Prize for a college publication.

Judges select Pacemaker winners based on the college newspaper or magazine content, coverage, quality of writing, leadership on the opinions page, design, photography, art and graphics.

The Kernel is a finalist in the four-year daily newspaper category. Other nominees include The Daily Bruin from UCLA, The Harvard Crimson from Harvard University, and The Daily Pennsylvanian from the University of Pennsylvania.

The Associated Collegiate Press judges publications from randomly-selected weeks in the year to insure quality content is maintained over the entire academic year. Staff members from professional newspapers select the annual winners during the ACP/CMA National College Media Convention.

Sean Rose, one of last year’s managing editors, wrote two of the stories submitted for the contest. One was about a UK professor’s trip to Vietnam with his students to reflect on his time there as a soldier and teach about the impact of the Vietnam War, and the other about a man’s battle with AIDS. To him, the nomination was a team effort.

“Like everyone else, I put in a lot of hard work, and honestly cared about how each story turned out,” Rose said.

The nomination is reason enough to celebrate, Rose said, and actually getting an award would be icing on the cake.

The Kernel won a Pacemaker two years ago and last year’s editor in chief Keith Smiley said it would be nice to hear the Kernel’s name called out again.

This year’s National College Media Convention is in Kansas City, Mo. from Oct. 29 through Nov. 2, where the winners will be announced.