Two former members of The Patriot staff, Mitchell Hopkins and Claire Grunewald, class of ’16, were recently named finalists for the National Scholastic Press Association’s (NSPA) 2016 Newspaper Page One Design of the Year award. This is the first time any member of The Patriot has ever won this award.

Hopkins and Grunewald collaborated to create the winning front page design for “The Gun Issue,” which was published in Nov. 2015. This cover page also won the Quill and Scroll Sweepstakes award in Front Page Design in Apr. 2016.

Hopkins and Grunewald are honored to receive a nomination for the NSPA Front Page Design of the Year for The Patriot.“I think it’s awesome to be recognized on a national level. Working with Mitchell on the design was great, and it’s still one of my favorite front pages,” Grunewald said.

The duo agreed that the whole staff collaborated on this award-winning design. “It’s really an honor to be nominated for the award, but regardless of the outcome, it was something that our whole staff collaborated on and are proud of it. It just happens that Claire and my name is on it,” Hopkins said.

Paige Alban is a managing editor and In-Focus Editor The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.