This study identified the common characteristics of the adviser, the journalism program, and the newspaper of the high schools consistently winning awards. The purposes of this study were to identify the award-winning newspapers, to examine and describe the characteristics and elements (those rated by ILPC) of the newspapers, the attitudes and opinions of the principals, the qualifications, the attitudes, and the opinions of the advisers. Based on the results, there was no pattern that indicates a given high school newspaper will receive awards.