Orion Wins Top National Honors from Society of Professional Journalists
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 20, 2005
CONTACT: Joe Wills
530-898-4143
Orion Wins Top National Honors from Society
of Professional Journalists
California State University, Chico’s student newspaper, The Orion, one of the country’s most honored collegiate newspapers, has won the 2004 Mark of Excellence National Award for Best All-Around Non-Daily Student Newspaper from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).
The award will be made during the Mark of Excellence luncheon Monday, Oct. 17, 2005, at the SPJ Convention and National Journalism Conference in Las Vegas.
Student journalists submitted more than 3,000 entries in 45 categories. Twelve regional competitions were held to determine which collegiate newspapers would vie for national honors.
“What makes this award stand out in my mind is that it is so difficult to win,” said Dave Waddell, Orion adviser. “The Orion has won it only once previously, in 2000.”
Waddell said the regional competitions and judging make the award prestigious. “After a paper wins for its region, it must go up against the winners of other regions throughout the U.S. You truly are pitted against the best of the best for national honors. Plus, as the name Society of Professional Journalists says, the judging is done by media professionals,” he said.
“The winners of the SPJ Mark of Excellence awards represent the best in college journalism and certainly are the result of exceptional work on the part of those chosen for the awards,” said Jim Highland, SPJ vice president for campus chapter affairs. “These young people set the agenda for their college campuses, and they clearly demonstrate that college media are in excellent hands.”
The Society of Professional Journalists, founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, is the nation’s most broad-based journalism organization.
Last month, the Orion won first place in General Newspaper Excellence for non-daily newspapers in the California College Media Competition. In November 2004, the Orion won its
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second straight and eighth overall national Pacemaker award-widely considered the top prize for general excellence in college journalism-from the Associated Collegiate Press. In September 2004, the National Newspaper Association named The Orion the nation’s best university newspaper.
Waddell said the Orion is expected to be inducted into the Associated Collegiate Press Hall of Fame at the National College Media Convention in October in New Orleans. A newspaper is eligible for the honor when it becomes a Pacemaker finalist or winner 15 times. The Orion has been a Pacemaker finalist or winner 22 times.
“The Associated Collegiate Press is the leading association in college journalism nationally, so be inducted into its Hall of Fame is a big honor,” Waddell said. “It’s the sort of recognition that continues to attract the state’s top journalism students to Chico State.”
The Orion, founded in 1975, is a laboratory newspaper of CSU, Chico’s nationally accredited Department of Journalism.
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