The Party's Over Once Again

The Ithacan wrapped up another academic year with the traditional Ithacan Banquet. About 75 staffers attended the April 30 event, along with guests Dean Dianne Lynch, Associate Dean Virginia Mansfield-Richardson, faculty members Vadim Isakov, Matt Mogekwu, Adam “Iron Man” Peruta and Todd Schack, as well as Associate Director of Media Relations Dave Maley.
There was plenty to celebrate this year, including being named the #2 weekly in the country by SPJ, winning the ACP Pacemaker and Online Pacemaker, the CSPA Silver Crown and Online Gold Crown, and numerous other honors.
In an updating of a decades-old Ithacan tradition, instead of producing an end-of-banquet slideshow, Online Media Editor Andy Swift ’09 produced a video of interviews with graduating seniors. It’s called “Senior Moments,” appropriately enough, and you can watch it on YouTube. It’s a nice way to get a look at some of the people who made the paper so great over the past four years.
And last but not least, we actually had entertainment at this year’s event. Aaron Edwards, our incoming assistant Accent editor, and Casey Musarra, our incoming sports editor (shown in photo above), performed “Anyone Else But the Ithacan,” with lyrics by Casey written to the tune of “Anyone
Else But You” from the film “Juno,” accompanied by former editor in chief Erica R. Hendry on the tuba. (No, I’m not kidding. You had to see it to believe it. It was hilarious.) Sadly, there’s no video record of the performance, but we may get them to recreate it someday.
In any case, we had a great year and are saying goodbye to an incredibly talented group of seniors, who now become part of our vast network of Ithacan alumni.

Nevins Wins National SPJ Award for Feature Writing

Senior journalism major Jen Nevins' story "That's How They Roll" has been awarded third place in the country for feature writing in the Society of Professional Journalists' annual Mark of Excellence competition.
The story, which profiled The SufferJets, an area women's roller derby team, appeared in the October 23, 2008, issue of The Ithacan.

Diane Gayeski Named Interim Park School Dean

Diane Gayeski has been named interim dean of the Roy H. Park School of Communications, succeeding Dianne Lynch, who leaves at the end of May to take over the presidency at Stephens College. Gayeski will serve in the position for the 2009–10 academic year while a search is conducted for a permanent dean. An excellent choice by the provost, and good news for Park.
You can read the official college announcement here.

A New Daughter for the Loops

Journalism professor Mead Loop and his wife Jill became the proud parents of a baby girl last Friday morning. Cassandra Anne arrived four weeks early at 6 lbs., 7 oz. This is the third daughter for Mead. Congratulations to Mead and Jill.

Ithacan Wins SPJ Best in Northeast Region

The Ithacan has once again been named the best non-daily student newspaper in the Northeast by the Society of Professional Journalist. SPJ, the largest professional organization of reporters and editors in the country, presented the paper with the First Place Mark of Excellence Award at its Region 1 conference on April 25 in Philadelphia.
The paper now goes on to compete against the first-place winners in the other 11 regions in SPJ’s national competition, the results of which will be announced at the SPJ national convention in Indianapolis, August 27–30. The Ithacan placed second nationally in last year’s competition.
In addition, senior Jennifer Nevins’ story, “That’s How They Roll,” on a local roller derby team, won the First Place Mark of Excellence Award in the Feature Writing category, and will go on to compete in the national competition as well. Senior Erica R. Hendry’s “Jazz Man,” a profile of recently retired music professor Steve Brown, took second place in the Feature Writing category. The stories appeared in the October 23, 2008, and April 24, 2008, issues of The Ithacan, respectively.
Above: Jackie Palochko ’11, next year's Ithacan news editor, and Allison Musante ’10, next year's Ithacan managing editor, with the awards at the convention.

Byard Duncan's Ithacan Story on CommonDreams.org

Senior Byard Duncan's front-page story on gas drilling from this week's paper was picked up by CommonDreams.org. That's the second Ithacan story they've picked up this semester.

Dianne Lynch Leaving Ithaca College

In case you haven't heard yet, Dean Dianne Lynch is leaving the Park School — for real this time — to be president of Stephens College in Columbia, Mo. Read the Ithacan story.

New Ithacan Editor

Lindsey Hollenbaugh, a junior journalism major and politics minor, has been selected as the 2009–10 Ithacan editor in chief. A Downsville, N.Y., native (the name should be familiar to those of you who make the NYC-to-Ithaca trip on Route 17), she is currently the paper's opinion editor.

Baby Bluey Arrives

Benjamin Thomas Bluey, son of Melissa (Bloomrose) Bluey ’00 and Rob Bluey ’01,was born at 5:39 a.m. this morning, weighing 8 lbs. 9 oz., and 21 inches long. Mother and son are resting comfortably.
Congratulations to Rob and Missy and the extended Bluey family!

Ithacan: The Next Generation

Michelle (Theis) Cuthrell ’04 and her husband Matt are now the proud parents of a second son, Joel Joseph Cuthrell, born the 4th of April — 9 days early, on his older brother Connor’s third birthday. Talk about sibling rivalry! If J.J. is half as much fun as C.J., the Cuthrell home is going to be a lively place for the next couple of decades.
It’s definitely baby season. Rob (’01) and Missy (’00) Bluey’s forthcoming child is due April 11. And IC President Tom Rochon and his wife Amber have a baby coming next month as well.
(Photo above: Michelle holding J.J. for the first time.)

More Awards

The Ithacan has won first place for Design and second place for Sports Coverage in this year's New York Press Association Better College Newspaper Competition. In addition, Jen Nevins, Tom Eschen, Connor Gleason and Diana Cowdery have won individual awards in their respective categories.
The awards are for work published during the 2008 calendar year. Both winning feature stories were sports fronts from the same month — pretty impressive. The list of winners is below. Congratulations to everyone involved.

First Place, Design
(Spring 2008 Editor: Lena Yue ’10; Fall 2008 Editor: Alexis McNutt ’11)

Second Place, Best Sports Coverage
(Spring 2008 Editor: Andrew Lovell ’08; Fall 2008 Editor: Cory Francer ’10)

Second Place, Feature Story
Jen Nevins ’09, "That's How They Roll," roller derby feature (Sports, Oct. 23, 2008)

Third Place, Feature Story
Tom Eschen ’11, "Built on Determination," a profile of Jared Azuma (Sports, Oct. 9, 2008)

Second Place, Photography
Connor Gleason ’08, lead photo for "Rise in the East, Response in the West," (News, March 27, 2008)

Third Place, Photography
Diana Cowdery ’09, photo of didgeridoo player in "Fun Down Under" (This I See, Aug. 29, 2008)

Ithacan's Izzy Awards Story Gets National Attention

Our coverage of the first annual Izzy Awards, presented by the Park School's Center for Independent Media to Amy Goodman and Glenn Greenwald Tuesday night, has been bringing a lot of readers to our site. In addition, the story (by Assistant News Editor Becca Burns) has been picked up by Michael Moore and commondreams.org, among others.

We're on Twitter

You can now follow The Ithacan on Twitter. To sign up, click here.

Informal Alumni Weekend

Maybe it's the fact that it's (kind of) spring, or maybe it's just a coincidence, but there were a lot of alumni around this weekend.
On Friday afternoon, former Accent editor James Sigman ’98 and former news editor Brian Chambala dropped by the office. They were getting ready to go to the 10th anniversary party for Buzzsaw (originally Buzzsaw Haircut), which they help create a decade ago.
Also around this weekend were 2008 grads Nic Barajas, Lydia Dimitriadis, Bill Earl, Connor Gleason and Andrew Lovell, who were back in town to visit friends.

More Ithacan News

A number of our alumni have expressed a desire to hear more about what's going on here at the paper, so in addition to posting updates about alumni activities I'm going to be posting more news about what's going on at The Ithacan these days. I hope you find it interesting.

On the Road

March 20 was a big travel day for Ithacan writers and editors. Editor in Chief Erin Geismar, Senior Writer Jen Nevins, Special Projects Manager Tricia Nadolny (shown above, left to right) and I traveled to Boston for the annual Nieman Narrative Journalism conference. We attended three days of workshops and talks by prominent narrative journalists and editors, including the New Yorker’s Jon Lee Anderson, Washington Post multimedia journalist Jennifer Crandall (who produces their “onBeing” video project) and PBS journalist Gwen Ifill.


The same day, News Editor Libby Sile and Opinion Editor Lindsey Hollenbaugh went to New York for the New York Times Student News Editors Workshop, where they met with Times reporters and editors and discussed developments in the profession. The workshop is organized by the Council of Independent Colleges.

Spring Gathering in New York

Ithacan alumni spanning the past decade got together with current students when we traveled to New York for the spring College Media Convention earlier this month. We gathered, as always, at the Heartland Brewery on W. 43rd St. for an evening of food and conversation.
Alumni in attendance included James Sigman ’98, Mike Cagnazzi ’98, Adam Ellick ’99, Cole Louison ’00, Lisa Boyars ’01, Sean Fennessey ’03, Kelli Grant ’04, Deepa Shah ’06, Vanessa Schneider ’07 and Nic Barajas ’08.
Current students included seniors Erin Geismar, editor in chief, and Andy Swift, online media editor; junior Michelle Barrie, assistant design editor; sophomore Jackie Palochko, assistant news editor, and freshman Allison Usavage, assistant photo editor.
Shown above, from left: Kelli Grant, Deepa Shah and Sean Fennessey.

Ithacan Wins Best in Show

After picking up two CSPA Crown Awards at the National College Media Convention in New York, The Ithacan was then presented with an Apple Award for Best in Show during the convention's closing session. This is the fourth consecutive year the paper has won the Apple Award in its category, and the sixth time it has won the award in the eight years it has been presented.
Above: Editor in Chief Erin Geismar with the Apple Award at the convention.

Ithacan Wins CSPA Crown Awards

The Ithacan Online, the Ithacan’s Web site, has been awarded a 2009 Gold Crown Award for overall excellence by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. Crown Awards are the highest recognition given by the CSPA to a student print or online medium.
Following on the heels of the Ithacan’s third consecutive Online Pacemaker Award from the Associated Collegiate Press in November, CSPA’s newly created Online Crown Award solidifies The Ithacan Online’s standing as a leader in college multimedia journalism.
In addition, The Ithacan newspaper was awarded the organization’s Silver Crown Award for papers produced during the Spring 2008 semester.
The award was presented March 15 at the spring National College Media Convention in New York City. The CSPA has recognized excellence in journalism with Gold and Silver Crown Awards for student newspapers, magazines and yearbooks since the early 1980s. The award for online publications was added this year.
Shown above from left: Online Media Editor Andy Swift, holding the Gold Crown; Assistant Design Editor Michelle Barrie; Assistant Photo Editor Allison Usavage, holding the Silver Crown; and Assistant News Editor Jackie Palochko.

Hawver's Return

After graduating, Jim Hawver ’07 spent a year as a metro reporter with the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, his hometown. He left the paper last August to attend the Olympics in Beijing and to travel and freelance in China, Thailand and Nepal. Jim is now back in Rochester, hoping to land a newsroom job soon. He visited Ithaca recently and spent some time in the Ithacan office. Watch this space for a video conversation with Jim, to be posted soon (I hope).

Advice for Future Journalists

Chris Baxter ’08 recently returned to Ithaca and met with students to discuss changes in the journalism industry, as well as internships, jobs and how best to prepare to apply for them.
An Ithacan news reporter and special projects manager while at IC, Baxter also founded the online student magazine iMPrint and reported for the radio station. He interned at the Concord Monitor, Allentown Morning Call, Virginian-Pilot and, upon graduation, the Boston Globe. He is now back at the Morning Call as a reporter. You can find his samples of his work at his website.

Update on the Blue House

Last month the New York Times published 2000 grad Cole Louison's follow-up to "Tangled Up in Blue," his 2007 piece on a mysterious blue house in Ozone Park, Queens. The new story, "Her Blue Heaven," continues the story following the death of the home's owner.
Cole has been busy, as usual — working at GQ, freelancing for the Times, Outside Magazine and scribd.com, which sent him to Washington to cover the Inauguration.