The Central Focus was recently awarded an International First Place rating by Quill and Scroll in its News Media Evaluation. Quill and Scroll is a national organization, which is one of three in the country the staff submits its paper to for review.

Out of the many contestants, several received the award, but this is the Focus’ first time rating this well, according to paper adviser Matthew Schott.

“The writing has improved throughout the paper, and made it overall better. The gap decreased tremendously between the best and worst writer, and this year’s gap grew even smaller,” Mr. Schott said.

The staff submitted six issues from last year to Quill and Scroll for scoring and to possibly receive an award.

Although the paper’s score was high enough to be recognized for superior achievements, it fell short on a specific category: writing and editing. However, Mr. Schott and the editors have already been working to fix the problem so that the next year the paper can score higher and receive Quill and Scroll’s highest honor, the George H. Gallup Award.

Both the staff and Mr. Schott are ecstatic to win this prestigious award.

“It is just a reflection of the hard work they’ve all done over the past year,” said Mr. Schott.