The business side of WKU Student Publications won the 2025 Student Media Business Pacemaker Award from Associated Collegiate Press on Saturday. WKU won the Pacemaker for the second consecutive year, marking the 50th time a unit of WKU Student Publications has received a Pacemaker Award, the highest national honor for student-run media at the college level.
The Business Pacemaker, awarded at the ACP Spring National College Media Conference in Long Beach, California, honored the work of two divisions within Student Publications that collaborate to generate revenue for the operation – the Student Publications Advertising sales team and the Cherry Creative branded content studio.
Abby Loftus, a spring 2024 graduate, and Keelin Davis, a senior from Mount Washington, led the advertising staff, which is advised by Avari Stamps. Spring 2024 graduates Emma Bayens and Bailey Brush along with Lexington senior Nicole Johnson led Cherry Creative, advised by Assistant Director Sam Oldenburg.
Cherry Creative students were also recognized in ACP’s Advertising & Business Individual Awards:
- First place in Video Advertisement awarded to Louisville seniors Madeline Powell and Rhiannon Johnston, recognizing a video produced for the College of Health and Human Services
- Fourth place in Newspaper Advertising Special Section for the fall 2024 grad guide
- Fourth place in Social Media Campaign awarded to Nicole Johnson, a senior from Lexington, and Spring 2024 graduate Alex Cissell, recognizing an Instagram advertising campaign for WKU Liquors
- Fourth place in Video Advertisement awarded to, recognizing a video produced for the City of Bowling Green
- Honorable mention in Print Advertisement awarded to Sarah Thompson, a junior from Glendale, for an advertisement published in the College Heights Herald
- Two honorable mentions in Digital Advertisement awarded to Thompson, recognizing ads created for Mellow Mushroom and Warren County Public Library
WKU Student Publications is celebrating a century of excellence, with the Talisman founded in 1924 and the College Heights Herald publishing its first edition on Jan. 29, 1925. It is one of the most honored student-run media groups in the country, amassing 50 ACP Pacemaker awards since its first in 1978 for Talisman, then a yearbook, and in 1981 for the College Heights Herald. Since then, the Herald has won 25 Pacemakers; Talisman, 22; Cherry Creative, 1; and Cherry along with Student Publications Advertising, 2.
WKU was among five universities nationwide that a panel of professionals judging the contest determined had reached the benchmarks for Pacemaker designation for their business operations. The other programs were Mustang Media Group at California Polytechnic University-San Luis Obispo, The Harvard Crimson at Harvard University, Central Michigan Life at Central Michigan University and The Shorthorn at the University of Texas at Arlington. A total of nine programs across the country had been designated as finalists.
The ACP Pacemaker Award, one of the oldest awards for collegiate journalism, has a rich tradition. The association began presenting the prestigious award to collegiate newspapers soon after the organization was founded in 1921. Through the years, yearbooks, magazines and online sites were added to the competition.