TheA-Blast.org has been redesigned several times over the past few years.

The A-Blast was selected as a 2013 National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) Online Pacemaker finalist on March 12. Fifty finalists were chosen from the 252 high school newspaper programs around the country that applied. Finalists will be notified on April 27 if they win the NSPA Online Pacemaker Award.

Last year, the paper won the Online Pacemaker Award. Current Co-Editor in Chiefs Gwen Levey and Colleen Adenan are currently leading the paper this year in an effort to keep informing the community about all things AHS.

“We had a strong, well-oiled machine last year,” Levey said. “This year I feel like we’re trying to stay up to par but also push the standards of what we’re used to. We’re trying to make communicating with our readers more personable through things like hashtags because it’s more about expressing AHS the way we are in our current technology-based world.”

The A-Blast has been consistently ranked as one of the top ten high school newspapers in the country. The leaders of the paper have been pushing their staff to post current content such as “Stories of the Day” — daily articles that feature important aspects of AHS life.

“I think people are really starting to notice—we’re getting more likes and followers every week,” Levey said. “We always strive to be a legitimate source of news. We keep working, keep our standards high, and we’ll see if our efforts yield a positive outcome once again.”

“My favorite thing to focus on for connecting with the community is interaction through social media,” Adenan said. “I really enjoy seeing how students, parents and alumni share their opinions with stories posted or scores of games. From the beginning of the year, it was my goal to get more followers on Twitter and likes on Facebook, and we’ve definitely seen that improvement.”

The A-Blast Web Master, Rachel Wilson, started improving the website during her junior year. As a senior, she focuses on maintaining the website but also looks for various creative ways to enhance it.

“This year, I designed the logos for the site and I reworked the layout in terms of stylistic things. It was just little things,” Wilson said. “My main job is maintenance and helping people learn how to post and create their online content.”

In the coming month, The A-Blast website will be observed by the Online Pacemaker judging team. The newspaper staff will be working hard to post timely and relevant stories and impress the judges.

“We aim to make sure our website has attention-grabbing content that our readers can relate to,” Levey said. “People are really starting to take notice and stay informed as Atoms and as a community.”