Sitting in a lecture hall at Vanderbilt University, Zach Hamer, last year’s managing editor of Torch, opened an email sent to him and Sam Aber, last year’s editor-in-chief, notifying them of an honor Torch earned.

Torch earned All-American recognition from the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) for the 2012-2013 school year, which marked the fourth consecutive time Torch accomplished this feat.

“I gave myself a subtle fist pump because I was very excited [Torch] got what [the staff] had worked for and that NSPA had recognized the work that we had put in,” Hamer said.

Overall, Torch was awarded 3,575 out of 4,100 points, along with Marks of Distinction in the categories of coverage /content, writing /editing, photos/art /graphics and leadership. A publication receives All-American acknowledgement  if it earns 3,200 or more points and four out of five Marks of Distinction.

Hamer and Aber said Torch could not have achieved this award without help from the staff members.

“I think we won the recognition because all of [the staff members] really shared a passion and dedication to make each issue, page, headline and picture the best that we could and worked together towards that goal,” Allie Gross, last year’s executive opinions editor, said.

Both Zach Zilber, last year’s executive sports editor, and Varsha John, last year’s executive copy editor, agree that learning how to produce newspapers with a staff of 27 upperclassmen was difficult.

“It was all of [the seniors’] first times being on our own in charge of the paper,” said Zilber. “Normally there is a junior that is an executive to provide some continuity, but that wasn’t the case in our year, so we were all learning how to run the paper together.”

John said the smaller staff forced members to “stretch” themselves. They each assumed more responsibilities and helped each other even more than in prior years.

Aber wants the All-American recognition to “make people look at the newspaper and respect it.” He hopes Torch’s accomplishments will encourage students to pick up and read the paper.

“After one year, [achieving the recognition] could be a fluke, after two years that’s impressive, and three years is super impressive,” said Hamer. “Once you get that fourth year, it sets the expectation for everyone on Torch that this is an award they should be getting.”