The Daily Utah Chronicle beat out other college newspapers to be named best all-around daily college newspaper from Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico.
The Society of Professional Journalists awarded 22 of its 2008 Mark of Excellence Awards for Region 9 to The Chronicle staff. Eight of the entries received first-place honors and will be judged in the national competition.
“I’m very excited,” said Jim Fisher, adviser to The Chronicle and a communication professor at the U. “The staff worked extraordinarily hard. I’m especially excited that we’re going to nationals to compete against the best of the best from other regions.”
The Chronicle was named the best student newspaper in the region for the second year in a row. Last year, SPJ named The Chronicle the second-best student newspaper in the nation behind Iowa State University. The Chronicle earned seven top-three finishes at the national level. The paper was matched only by Pennsylvania State University, which also won seven top-three awards but failed to be recognized as one of the top three student newspapers.
The paper swept three categories in the regional competition8212;Column Writing, Sports Photography and Feature Photography8212;and won first-place honors in eight categories8212;Best All-Around Daily Student Newspaper, General News Reporting, Editorial Cartooning, Column Writing, Breaking News Photography, Feature Photography, Sports Photography and Radio News Reporting.
The staff is looking to do well again at the national level, hoping to be recognized as one of the nation’s top student newspapers, said Dustin Gardiner, The Chronicle’s editor in chief.
“We definitely have a good shot at being in the top three again,” Gardiner said. “We did really well in a variety of categories. There are a lot of other big schools in our region, and we’ve won the best newspaper for four of the last five years, so we’re doing pretty well.”
However, Fisher said awards aren’t the only way to judge The Chronicle’s content and success as a student newspaper.
“I think The Chronicle is getting better and better every single year,” Fisher said. “I’m proud to see the success. We’re involving more students; we’re branching out technologically and editorially.”
The Chronicle has worked for the past year to increase its online content, including videos, photo slideshows and audio recordings of interviews for readers to view on its Web site, www.dailyutahchronicle.com.
Although awards aren’t the only gauge of success, Gardiner said they do help in defending the journalistic integrity of a newspaper.
“It is really important that we have a good reputation, that we win awards,” he said. “Often, we’re evaluated by people that aren’t happy with us, so it’s good to have an outside, national organization that thinks we’re doing well.”
Awards:
Best All-Around Daily Student Newspaper, staff, 1st place
General News Reporting, Rochelle McConkie, 1st place, “Economy in crisis”
General News Reporting, Jaime Winston, 2nd place, “Researchers design robotic combat suit”
Sports Writing, Paige Fieldsted, 2nd place, “Team remembers coach’s mom”
Sports Column Writing, Tony Pizza, 3rd place, Column collection
Editorial Writing, Craig Blake, 2nd place, Editorial collection
Editorial Cartooning, Phil Cannon, 1st place, Cartoon collection
Editorial Cartooning, Willus Branham, 2nd place, Cartoon collection
Column Writing, Alicia Williams, 1st place, Column collection
Column Writing, Emily Rodriguez-Vargas, 2nd place, Column collection
Column Writing, Anne Roper, 3rd place, Column collection
Breaking News Photography, Aaron Schwendiman, 1st place, “Olympics protest”
Breaking News Photography, Lawrence Boyle, 2nd place, “Fire at the disco”
General News Photography, Chris Peddecord, 2nd place, “Robarts Portrait”
Feature Photography, Lucas Isley, 1st and 2nd place, “Ballet Utah” and “Strech”
Feature Photography, Erik Daenitz, 3rd place, “Burning ring of fire”
Photo Illustration, Tyler Cobb, 3rd place, “Economy in crisis”
Sports Photography, Lennie Mahler, 1st and 2nd place, “Economy in crisis” and “Slide tackle”
Sports Photography, Thien Sok, 3rd place, “Reception made”
Radio News Reporting, Michael McFall, 1st place, “Foreign doctors unable to practice”