Kayla Hockman
Staff Writer
The Columbia Scholastic Press Association at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism awarded the Campus Times a Gold Medal for print and online journalism publication excellence for the 2013-2014 academic year.
“It is a tribute to a team effort, and in the last couple of years we’ve had some hard-hitting stories,” said Elizabeth Zwerling, associate professor of journalism and faculty adviser for the Campus Times.
The international journalism contest also awarded the Campus Times the All Columbian Honor in the verbal category.
The verbal category covers writing, reporting and editing, Zwerling said.
These honors place Campus Times in the highest rank of college publications both nationally and internationally.
The journalism contest allows national and international publications to submit issues from each academic year for critique in various components of content and design.
The competition takes place annually and is judged by professional journalists and journalism educators across the United States, scoring the newspaper’s print and online issues in the categories of essential, verbal and visual on a 1,000 point scale.
“Campus Times has consistently won gold medals for the past 14 years,” Zwerling said.
“The fact that I was able to continue the legacy (of winning this award) makes me really happy,” said Mariela Patron, Campus Times editor in chief for spring 2014, who graduated in January.
“I think that the diversity of the staff itself helped to give a well-rounded point of view, and that makes for a great newspaper,” said Robert Penalber, Campus Times editor in chief for fall 2013, who graduated in 2014. “We stayed true to what news is.”
Penalber and Patron were the editors in chief involved in the success of Campus Times during the awarded 2013-2014 academic year.
The Campus Times’ final score was 937 points out of 1,000 total points overall.
Gold medals are awarded to publications receiving a total score from 800 to 1,000 points.
In the verbal category, Campus Times was awarded 388 points out of 400 possible points, receiving All Columbian Honors. All Columbian goes to to publications who receive 95 percent or more of the possible points within a specific section of the competition.
Patron’s senior project “Demystifying Disabilities” was featured among the issues submitted for this prestigious contest.
“It makes me really proud that the judges of this competition were able to read my stories and bring awareness to (disabled) students in all college settings,” Patron said.
The Columbia Scholastic Press Association, founded in 1925, is one of the oldest, largest and most prestigious international student journalism organizations. The association has included and awarded medalist critiques and rankings for national and international publications since 1932.
Kayla Hockman can be reached at kayla.hockman@laverne.edu.
