All-Columbian Honors Winner
The Youngtown Edition, the County College of Morris student newspaper, recently won a number of awards from the New Jersey Press Association (NJPA) and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA), including All-Columbian Honors for Writing and Editing, Graphic Presentation and Business Operations.
A consistent award-winner, the newspaper was awarded second place in the two-year college category for General Excellence in the NJPA competition for the 2009-2010 academic year. The NJPA’s New Jersey College Newspaper Contest is judged by professional journalists in the state. A number of individual writers also received NJPA awards as follows:
First place awards were presented to Candice Hall, of Randolph, in the Newswriting category for “Traffic Complaints;” Jose Diaz, of Budd Lake, in the Editorial Writing category for his editorials in the September 16, 2009, and October 14, 2009 issues of the newspaper; Harrison Mulligan, of Morristown, in the Column/Opinion Writing category for his column “Money Talks;” Ashleigh Parr, of Vernon, in the Arts and Entertainment category for her articles “Hot Lights, “ and “This is It;” and David Danzis, of Flanders, in the Sport Writing category for his articles “Lady Titans,” “Quiet Leader” and “Yankee Stadium.”
Second Place Awards also were presented to Diaz in the Bio/Personality Profile category for his article “Professor Irons;” and to Hall in the Arts and Entertainment category for her articles “Coraline” and “Mara’s Café.” Presented with two third place awards was Larissa Ackerman, of Great Meadows, in the Arts and Entertainment Category for her articles “Lovely Bones” and “Lost Symbol.”
The Youngtown Edition, which has been published consistently at CCM every semester since 1968, has won more awards from the NJPA in the last 11 years than any other two- or four-year college newspaper in the state.
The Youngtown Edition also was awarded Gold Medalist status from CSPA. This is the third time in the last 10 years that Youngtown has achieved this honor. In addition, for the first time, the newspaper was awarded All-Columbian Honors for Writing and Editing, Graphic Presentation and Business Operations. All-Columbian Honors are given when a publication is ranked in the 95th percentile or higher in each of the categories.
The CSPA recognition was based on the association’s 20-page critique of the spring 2010 editions of Youngtown. The CSPA has been evaluating and judging school newspapers since 1934.
The adviser to The Youngtown Edition is Professor Matthew Ayres. Students in the journalism classes of Professor Noel Robinson, coordinator of CCM’s Communications and Journalism program, submit most of the articles. Last year’s editor and managing editor were Allison Shadel, of Succasunna, and Larissa Ackerman, of Great Meadows.
Danzis and Diaz are serving as editors for the 2010 fall semester.
