During the 2021-2022 school year, the students of the Pony Express put in a lot of hard work and dedication towards the newspaper and achieved the very prestigious George H. Gallup award. 

The George H. Gallup award is the highest in high school media. It is named after George H. Gallup, who received many awards for his contribution to articles. These achievements were recognized early and have been carried on over time. George H. Gallup’s contributions made winning the award even more special.

“It’s just kind of one of those like, it feels really good when your kids put all this work into it, and they’re rewarded for that work, “English teacher Rachel Steil said.

The prestigious award is only given to those high school publications that had achieved and sustained excellence during the 2021-2022 school year. The winners have also shown and modeled extraordinary improvement, exceptional service to the school and community, and in-depth reporting on social issues. The prestige of this award means a lot to the Pony Express staff.

“Having an external group of people look at the work we do, and validate the work we do, and say you know what you’re really performing at a really high level is very rewarding,” Steil said.

Out of nine schools in the country, Stillwater was one of them. This award means a lot to the Pony Express because not every school earned this award. Stillwater is the only school in the state who placed at this level.

Editor-in-Chief, senior Maya Disher, said about the award, “It means a lot that I was able to be a part of something so big.”

This was not the only time the Pony Express has been up for this award. The Pony Express has achieved this “superior” rating three times. The ratings are based on five areas of evaluation: general practices, coverage, writing, editing, visuals, and digital.

Steil said the newspaper, “had a lot of really strong elements to our paper last year.”

The Pony Express has worked very hard to have the honor of winning this award. Although this school year has just started the Pony Express is very hopeful that they could win this award again.