NEW YORK — The Columbia Scholastic Press Association named Tom Gayda as the 2018 National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year yesterday.

Gayda, a journalism teacher and director of student media at North Central High School at Indianapolis, was selected from among 14 teachers nominated nationally.

The National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year program is administered by Columbia Scholastic Press Association and cosponsored by the Dow Jones News Fund with further support from The Poynter Institute for Media Studies and The Wall Street Journal.

In addition to the Teacher of the Year, four Distinguished Advisers and one Special Recognition Adviser were also named. The Distinguished Advisers are Erin Castellano, Clayton (Missouri) High School; Mark Harrison, T.C. Roberson High School, Asheville, North Carolina; James Miller, duPont Manual High School, Louisville, Kentucky, and Matthew Smith, Fond du Lac (Wisconsin) High School.

The Special Recognition Adviser is Kate Plows, Malvern (Pennsylvania) Preparatory School.

The selection panel for the honors included: Lori Keekley, 2016 Teacher of the Year from St. Louis Park (Minnesota) High School; Mark Goodman, Knight Chair in Scholastic Journalism at Kent (Ohio) State University; Linda Shockley, managing director, Dow Jones News Fund; Edmund J. Sullivan, Executive Director, Columbia Scholastic Press Association and Laura Widmer, Executive Director, National Scholastic Press Association

“The CSPA is honored to be the new administrators of the National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year program, continuing the rich history of excellence created and maintained since 1960 by the Dow Jones News Fund, which continues as an active cosponsor. We are grateful to the Poynter Institute and The Wall Street Journal for their further support,” said Sullivan.

The presentation of plaques will be at the upcoming 94th annual CSPA Spring Convention on Thursday, March 15, 2018. A special luncheon in The Rotunda of Low Library on the Columbia University campus will include the presentations. After the luncheon Sullivan will interview Gayda. Other honorees will participate in a panel discussion immediately after the luncheon.