David Ragsdale has been honored as a distinguished advisor by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association as part of The National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year Awards program. 

Mr. Ragsdale is in his 18th year advising the award winning Odyssey Media Group, which includes a literary magazine, newsmagazine, broadcast, social media platforms and website at Clarke Central High School. According to the announcement from CSPA, he has served on the advisory board for the Georgia Scholastic Press Association and on the Executive Committee for the Southern Interscholastic Press Association.

Ragsdale began his journalism adventure at CCHS by reviving the literary magazine Iliad. He works to encourage his staff to represent their experience in its pages. Ragsdale wrote in his application, "As I often tell my students when we go to conferences, nobody looks or acts like us. Since taking over the publications I advise at CCHS, which is a Title 1 school with an 80% non-white student body, I have sought to build staffs who represent all segments of our school population across race, SES status, gender, sexuality, and country of origin."

Ragsdale was honored with the Elizabeth Dickey Distinguished Service Award by the Southern Interscholastic Press Association in 2015.

Teachers who receive this honor will award $500 scholarships for graduating seniors and subscriptions to WSJ.com courtesy of the publishers of The Wall Street Journal.

The National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year Awards program is managed and sponsored by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and co-sponsored by Dow Jones News Fund, with support from the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and The Wall Street Journal.

 The awards will be presented at the CSPA Spring Convention at Columbia University in New York City on Thursday, March 21, 2019.