For countless years, the Central Digest has strived to bring any and all news to Central students, teachers, alumni and any other readers. This year, countless hours of emails, interviews, and writing were pumped into the Digest to make it what it is today. The school year long efforts have finally paid off, as the website has earned the title of  SNO National Website of Distinction for the third year in a row.

SNO (School Newspapers Online), who provides the website for the Central Digest, sets guidelines for six different badges for the newspapers it supports to reach a wide audience and accomplish greatness. When a website meets the guidelines for all of the five badges, it earns the title of SNO National Website of Distinction and receives a plaque for its staff’s efforts.

The first badge, Continuous Coverage, focuses on the ability to connect stories to each other, cover current events (national and local), and constant publishing of stories in all categories. The editors and writers of the Central Digest have made sure that a constant stream of coverage and stories has exited from their hands and onto the site.

“We worked hard all year long. We did not do anything special because we always try to hold ourselves to high standards. I am pleased with our accomplishments and I cannot wait to see what happens next year,” said English 11 and journalism teacher, Gregory Cantrell.

The Site Excellence badge ensures that the website has consistency in its quality. The requirements include having very few grammatical and spelling errors, publishing stories that are not too old, and making sure social media icons on the site are there and remain working for the duration of the school year. Maintaining all of these requirements keeps the Central Digest website as great as it can be.

The Story Page Excellence badge aims to make sure that a considerable number of published stories go beyond expectations and impact the reader. Aspects of various stories, such as the resolution and sizing of the picture and overall writing, helped to earn this badge for the Digest.

The next badge is the Excellence in Writing badge. This badge’s main goal is to make sure that the authors of the website are putting in their best writing into every story. Stories that have exceeding quality, length, and content are the ones that qualify for this badge.

Next is the Multimedia badge, which focuses on bringing multiple platforms of news to the website. The Central Digest’s videos and Pouder Pride Podcast tremendously help to reach the requirements for this badge.

Finally, we have the Audience Engagement badge. This badge focuses on interaction and engagement with viewers of the website. Actions such as updating social media pages, responding to comments, and receiving a constant stream of viewers earn this badge for the website.

Re-earning all six badges and the title of SNO NAtional Website of Distinction was a hard challenge for the staff of the Central Digest. However, all of the staff members worked diligently continuously throughout the school year to put everything they could into each story, video, and podcast to make sure they could keep their title and remain an amazing news site.

“I am so proud of the Central Digest staff for winning this title for three years in a row. It was a challenge to get all of the badges, but in the end, our efforts helped to improve the overall integrity of the website,” concluded Senior Preston Fore, Editor-In-Chief of the Central Digest.