The Eagle grabs ‘Best Newspaper’
Simply the best, and, well, second best.
That’s how CSC’s student newspaper The Eagle and its companion website csceagle.com finished respectively in the 2011 Nebraska Collegiate Media Association’s Golden Leaf Awards presented Saturday at Hastings College. The Eagle won Best Overall Newspaper and csceagle.com took second place in Excellence in Digital Medium at the NCMA’s 18th annual conference and awards ceremony.
In addition, the student staff captured 24 individual awards – 10 first places; six second places; two third places and five honorable mentions – for work published by The Eagle and csceagle.com between March 1, 2010, and Feb. 28 this year.
Following the announcement of the individual award winners, the top honors for Excellence in Digital Medium and Best Overall Newspaper were announced in descending order, third through first place.
The Eagle’s Executive Editor, T.J. Thomson, sophomore of Denver, was surprised and elated all at once when he heard the announcement that The Wayne Stater, Wayne State College, had finished second, ahead of third-place finisher The Doane Owl of Doane College, Crete.
“My thoughts were ‘Oh my gosh, we’re going to win,'” Thomson said. “My heart was pounding, and a split second before they called our name, our adviser, Mr. (Michael) Kennedy, leaned over with this big smile on his face and said, ‘You go up there,’ indicating I should go up and receive the award. It was fantastic.”
Kevin Oleksy, junior of Chadron, designed and launched csceagle.com in January 2010 and entered the infant site in last year’s Golden Leaf Awards where it finished third in Best Overall Website. Taking cues from comments by last year’s judges, Oleksy revamped the site in fall 2010, which led to its second-place finish this year.
In addition to the site placing second in the Excellence category, Oleksy won seven individual Digital Medium awards, including three first place titles – one in the Multimedia Features category, one in the Use of Digital Technology category, and the third in the Design category, which he shared with up-and-coming web administrator, Vera Ulitina of Tula, Russia.
“I love that the competition allows us to measure our work against real-world expectations,” Oleksy said. “Winning is that much more valuable, since we know that we have real-world comparison.”
Michael D. Kennedy, journalism instructor and adviser to The Eagle and csceagle.com, said he was proud of the students’ accomplishments.
“Without question, I’m proud of them,” Kennedy said. “They are a solid team. They’re smart, hard-working, selfless, tenacious, and the most dedicated bunch of student-journalists that I’ve had the pleasure of working with. From academic to athletic achievement, Chadron State has many students and student groups to be proud of. The Eagle staff is among those elite groups, not just for what they earned Saturday, but for the way they comport themselves individually and as representatives of the Communication and Social Sciences Department, the School of Liberal Arts and Chadron State College.”
The NCMA is composed of 10 schools statewide. Its active members are Chadron State College; Wayne State College; Peru State College; Hastings College; Doane College; Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln; Western Nebraska Community College, Scottsbluff; and Northeast Community College, Norfolk.
The Golden Leaf Awards were begun in 1993 and media students from the NCMA-member institutions compete in four divisions – television, radio, newspaper, and website. The Eagle competes only in the newspaper and website divisions. Professional journalists and multi-media specialists from outside Nebraska are tapped as judges for each division.
The best overall winner from each medium is determined by a sweepstakes point system. An institution earns three points for first place, two points for second place, and one point for third place. No points are awarded for honorable mention. The medium that earns the most points from its students’ performances in the individual categories wins the best overall title for that division.
In the Best Overall Newspaper category, The Eagle earned 30 points for individual awards earned by its staff members. The Wayne Stater, finished second with 25 points, and The Doane Owl finished third with 18 points.
In the Excellence in Digital Medium category, doaneline.com of Doane College finished first with 34 points; csceagle.com took second with 14 points, and hcmediaonline.org of Hastings College took third with 7 points.
In addition to winning Best Overall Newspaper, The Eagle staff took first place in the Series/Special Section category for its “Vancouver View” special section published in August 2010. It also took first place in the Layout and Design (complete newspaper) category.
Individually, Thomson captured first and second place in the Two-Page, Special-Spread Design category for his layouts of “Black History Month” and “International Food Tasting.” He also took first place in News Photograph and Sports Photograph; second place in Feature Photograph; and earned an honorable mention in the Spot News\Hard News Story category.
In addition to sharing first place in Digital Media design with Oleksy, Ulitina captured first place in the newspaper division’s Feature Photograph category.
On top of his web design awards, Oleksy showed his prowess as a writer, by taking first place in the Headlines category, and third place in the Spot News/Hard News Story category.
Lifestyles Editor Sara Labor, sophomore of Hot Springs, S.D., finished second behind Oleksy in the Headlines category. Like all the staff members who attended Saturday’s awards ceremony, she was excited about The Eagle earning the newspaper division’s top Golden Leaf Award.
“I actually thought we weren’t going to win,” Labor said. “So it was one of those ‘Oh my gosh’ moments. I was just so excited. I feel like we really accomplished something, and I’m really proud.”
Sports Editor Julie Davis, sophomore of Denver, who earned an honorable mention in the Sports Story category, was also excited about The Eagle’s top finish.
“I was really proud that we won the best newspaper,” Davis said. “It just shows how much hard work we put in; especially with such a small staff.”
Chief Photographer Kinley Q. Nichols, senior of Littleton, Colo., earned an honorable mention in the Sports Photograph category.
“It was bittersweet,” Nichols said about The Eagle winning Best Overall Newspaper. “I feel like I didn’t earn any points for the team.”
Former editor, Savanna N. Wick, who graduated in December 2010, took second place in the Page-One Layout and Design category.
In 2009 and 2010, The Eagle finished second in Best Overall Newspaper. Kennedy said it was the students’ commitment to their work that led them to the winner’s circle this year.
“It is a bit cliché,” he said, “but I’m always telling them that if they work hard and focus on the substance of their work, the rewards will take care of themselves. They proved that axiom Saturday.”
Although he said he was pleased and excited about his students’ accomplishments, Kennedy said his proudest moment came when a fellow adviser pulled him aside after the ceremony and quietly praised The Eagle staff.
“To me, one of the most the most telling moments about the students’ accomplishments came from a fellow adviser who stopped me after the awards ceremony and said ‘You guys are doing a great job, Mike.’ I smiled and replied ‘Well, we’re trying.’ And he said, ‘No, you’re not trying, you’re doing.'”