San José State University’s student-run newspaper, the Spartan Daily, received more than a dozen statewide awards as well as national accolades from two collegiate journalism organizations in February.
At the California College Media Association awards banquet at the Sheraton Universal in Los Angeles Feb. 28, the College of Applied Sciences and Arts School of Journalism and Mass Communication’s newspaper program took home 16 awards. In 2014, they earned nine awards, making the 2015 haul a record.
The local campus paper competed against 44 student publications in the state, according to Prof. Richard Craig, including a third place finish in the Best Daily Newspaper category.
Sixteen different students won or shared awards, and three honors were awarded to the full Daily staff, according to Craig. Jonathan Marinaro won three awards, including second place honors for Best Newspaper Page/Design Spread and Best Headline Portfolio, and a shared third place award for Best Overall Newspaper Design. Rafael Ochoa took home three awards, including third place for Best Black and White Advertisement and Best Group Promotion, as well as an Honorable Mention for Best Online Promotion.
Sol Granados shared a first-place award with Brandon Chew for Best Photo Series, for their coverage of the Oakland riots after the Ferguson court decision, and Granados also took a third place honor for Best News Photo. Jerica Lowman won for Best Newspaper Column and shared the award for Best Overall Newspaper Design. Philip Beadle also took home two awards, one as part of a team (along with Jasmine Leyva and Sarah Kenoyer) that took third place for Best News Series, and also shared the award for Best Overall Newspaper Design.
Other Daily students who won awards included Austin Belisle, Jenny Bennett, Sam Brannan, Lauren Hernandez, Nick Ibarra, Patricia Lee, Colton Seike and Alicia Simpson. The Daily staff took first place for Best Photo Illustration and third place for Best Special Issue/Section.
Craig said the newspaper team was only topped by UCLA and UC Berkeley for number of awards won.
“Given the enormous advantages some of our well-funded competitors enjoy, this is a triumph for the Spartan Daily and its student reporters and editors,” Craig said in an email.
In addition to the state competition, the newspaper placed second nationwide among four-year daily newspapers in the Associated Collegiate Press Best of Show award at its 31st Annual National College Journalism Convention in Los Angeles in February. Out of 143 entrants nationwide, the Oct. 14, 2014 edition of The Spartan Daily placed second with lead stories by Nick Ibarra and Lauren Hernandez.
Professor Robert Rucker also shared news that two advertising students were selected to participate in internships in New York. The students include Vu Tran, who will be going to McCann, NY and Kaitlin Horner, who will be going to Havas, NY. More than 400 applicants applied for the 87 internships available.