The Ithacan Hits a New High: Two Gold Crowns, a Silver Crown and Best in Show in New York

From left: Ithacan Managing Editor
Lara Bonner ’13, CSPA presenter
C. Bruce Watterson and Ithacan
Editor in Chief Aaron Edwards ’12.
Photo by Rebecca Castillo.

The Ithacan had its best showing ever at the Spring National College Media Convention in New York City last weekend. The Columbia Scholastic Press Association awarded The Ithacan two Gold Crown Awards for the newspaper and a Silver Crown Award for the website. In addition, the paper won the Apple Award for Best in Show in its category.

The details: The Newspaper Gold Crowns were for Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 (academic year 2010–11, Libby Sile ’11, editor in chief). The Digital Silver Crown was for this year (Aaron Edwards ’12, editor; Honest Charley Bodkin ’15, webmaster). The Apple Award for Best in Show, presented by the College Media Association, sponsors of the convention, is based on a single-issue entry from 2011. The paper entered its "Season of Protest" issue from November 10, 2011. 

The Gold Crowns are a tough nut to crack: There have been several years where only big-university dailies made the finalist list. In the past, The Ithacan has won the Newspaper Gold Crown once, the Newspaper Silver Crown seven times, the Digital Gold Crown twice and the Digital Silver Crown once. This is the eighth time the paper has won the Apple Award for Best in Show in the 11 years they have been presented. The only other publication to win two Newspaper Crowns, a Digital Crown and the Apple Award in its category in this year’s competition was the Indiana Daily Student from Indiana University.

Congratulations to the editors, staff and alumni for their outstanding achievement!

With the Apple Award for Best in Show in New York (from left):
Assistant Sports Editor Matt Kelly, Managing Editor Lara Bonner,
Editor in Chief Aaron Edwards, Assistant Photo Editor Shawn Steiner
 and Chief Copy Editor Matthew Dezii