The Happy Couple Returns

Former Ithacan managing editor Whitney Faber ’12 and fiancé Chris Roach ’11 returned to campus today to make arrangements for their Sept. 16 wedding in the college chapel. The couple, who live in Boston, stopped by the Ithacan to check out our new office. It was great to see them again and have the chance to congratulate them on their engagement, to introduce them to current editor-in-chief Jack Curran, managing editor Kira Maddox, news editor Kayla Dwyer, Life & Culture editor Steven Pirani, design editor Grace Clauss, assistant design editor Allie Teodore and webmaster Evan Sobkowicz. Plus it’s always fun watching alumni who graduated before Sept. 2013 react to our new space.

Lauren DeCicca’s Photo Selected for Time’s ‘Defining‘ Instagrams of 2014

A photo by former Ithacan photo editor Lauren DeCicca ’11 has been selected by Time magazine as one of “29 Instagrams That Defined The World in 2014.” The photo, captioned “Goodbye Thingyan, catch ya next year!” can also be viewed on Instagram. 

Lauren returned to campus in September during a visit back to the States and sat down for a Q&A with Ithacan Life & Culture editor Evin Billington. Check out the audio slideshow here. 

Throwback Thursday: Musical Memories

#tbt It was five years ago this week that the members of the great class of 2009 left Ithaca to make their way in the world. At a post-Commencement party at Erica Hendry, Andy Swift and Tahleen Ovian’s apartment we were treated to the finest in musical entertainment.

Grant and Ellick Headline in Alumni Magazine

Ithacan alumni are are well represented in the latest issue of IC View, the Ithaca College’s alumni magazine. Kelli Grant ’04 wrote the cover story, “Start Me Up: The Rise of the Entrepreneur,” which takes a look at six alumni who have launched their own successful businesses. And the magazine interviews Adam Ellick ’99 about the dramatic story of Malala Yousafszai’s emergence as an education activist and leader in the movement for women’s rights in Pakistan. Ellick’s documentary work for the The New York Times is credited with first bringing  her story to the attention of the American public.

Throwback Thursday: Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism, March 2009

#tbt Erin Geismar ’09, Jennifer Nevins ’09 and Tricia Nadolny ’09 at the Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism, March 2009. The conference attracted the best teachers and practitioners of narrative journalism to Boston each year to speak and conduct workshops for hundreds of attendees. As a result of the impact of the economic downturn on the Nieman endowment, 2009 was the last year the foundation sponsored the conference.

Marissa Tejada ’00 Publishes Novel

Former Ithacan writer Marissa Tejada ’00 is publishing her first novel. Chasing Athens, a romantic comedy and contemporary romance novel will be released by e-book romance publisher Musa Publishing on April 25.
As Marissa describes it in her press release, “Set in Athens, Greece, the Greek Islands and Ithaca, New York, Chasing Athens follows Ava Martin, a heartbroken American expat, whose new husband unexpectedly ditches her after their move abroad. Instead of returning to the States, she makes an abrupt decision to stay. Despite pressure from her mother, uncertainty over her divorce and issues with her long-estranged father, she's determined to make it on her own. With her Greek friends, she laughs and learns while facing culture shock, language barriers and the charm of Mediterranean men, until a life-threatening emergency back home in sleepy Ithaca, N.Y., forces her to confront her disappointing past, and forces her to redefine the meaning of home.”
The book will be available on the Musa Publishing website, as well as through Amazon and Kindle.
Since graduating from IC, Marissa has worked around the country as a television reporter and anchor, as well as in public relations. She is currently living in Athens as a full-time freelancer and blogger specializing in culture, food and wine, technology and travel writing.

Dinner at Viva

Just finished an enjoyable dinner at Viva Taqueria with, from left, former photo editors Rachel Orlow ’13 and Shawn Steiner ’13, as well as our current special projects manager, Elma Gonzalez ’14. Also present, but not shown, was the consistently camera-shy Kelsey O’Connor. Shawn and Rachel were passing through town on their way back to New York.

Throwback Thursday: Spring 2003

#tbt "Go Philly Sports!" Sports Editor Brian Delaney ’04 and Assistant Photo Editor Carly Chamberlin ’05.

Congratulations Team Newsday!

Newsday was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist in the Public Service category this year “for its use of in-depth reporting and digital tools to expose shootings, beatings and other concealed misconduct by some Long Island police officers, leading to the formation of a grand jury and an official review of police accountability.” Congratulations to our Ithacan alumni at Newsday — Erin Geismar ’09, Kaydi Poirier ’11 and Casey Musarra ’11! The Ithacan’s current multimedia editor, Deanna Romanoff ’14, will be joining the Newsday team as an intern this summer as well.

Throwback Thursday: Spring 2003

#tbt Opinion Editor Joe Geraghty ’04 and Editor-in-Chief Ellen Stapleton ’03 in Spring 2003. Written on the back of the photo: “And I thought Joe wanted me in the picture with him for sentimental value…”

Ithacan Named Best in New York State

Ramya Vijayagopal and Sabrina Knight with
the Ithacan’s awards at the 2014 NYPA convention.

The Ithacan has once again been named the Best College Newspaper in New York State by the New York Press Association. The award, the NYPA's top collegiate honor, was announced today at the organization’s annual convention at the Gideon Putnam Hotel in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Ithacan News Editor Sabrina Knight ’16 and Contributing Writer Ramya Vijayagopal ’17 accepted the awards on behalf of the paper. 

The awards are for work produced during calendar year 2013 (Kelsey O’Connor, spring 2013 editor-in-chief; Megan Devlin, fall 2013 editor-in-chief).

In addition to being named the best overall college paper in the state, The Ithacan and its staff members received the following awards:

Awards for the Paper
First Place for Best Website
First Place for Best Sports Coverage
Second Place for Editorial Writing
Third Place for General Excellence
Honorable Mention for Design

Awards for Individuals
First Place for Column Writing — Ramya Vijayagopal
Second Place for Column Writing — Rachael Hartford
First Place for Photography — Shawn Steiner
Third Place for Photography — Durst Breneiser

Shawn Steiner’s winning photo: Baritone saxophone player Mike Brown
plays for the audience at the Streetlight Manifesto concert. The Ithacan,
April 18, 2013, p. 14.

Throwback Thursday: 1998

#tbt The Ithacan wouldn’t be what it is without it’s advertising staff bringing in the bucks. Here are Business Manager Bonnie Flock ’01 (right) and Sales Manager Allie Ello ’99, way back in 1998. And to be fair to Allie, who had her back to the camera, here’s her good side, from that series of portraits Jay Miller’s editorial board took in front of that weird towel. 

Jack Curran Named 2014–15 Editor-in-Chief

The Ithaca College Board of Student Publications has appointed junior Jack Curran as editor-in-chief of The Ithacan for 2014-15. 
Curran, from Ballston Spa, N.Y., is currently the paper’s online news editor. He is a double major in journalism and economics. 
In addition to his work as an editor and staff writer at The Ithacan, he has served as an editorial intern at the investigative news website “City Limits” in New York City and as an assistant producer at ICTV’s Newswatch 16.
His term as editor-in-chief will begin at the end of the current academic year in May.

More Awards from New York

The Ithacan wrapped up the spring National College Media Convention in New York today by topping off its Gold Crown Award with winning Second Place for Best Newspaper and Third Place for Best Facebook Page in the Apple Awards Best of Show Competition.

Ithacan Wins CSPA Gold Crown

From left, Assistant Sports Editor Miles Surrey, Assistant Accent Editor
Steven Pirani, CSPA Director Edward Sullivan, Online Editor Jack Curran
and Assistant Photo Editor Tucker Mitchell at the award presentation
ceremony at the conference.

The Ithacan has been a been presented with a Gold Crown award by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association at the spring National College Media Convention in New York City. The Gold Crown awards are the highest honors presented by CSPA.

The award recognizes overall excellence in publications that work “to combine their digital and print publications as one.” This award was for work produced during the 2012–13 academic year (Kelsey O’Connor, editor in chief). It was presented in a ceremony on March 14 at the Sheraton Times Square Hotel.

‘Loose Canons’ Wins PEGASYS Award

Congratulations to former Ithacan sports editors Matt Kelly ’13 and Taylor Palmer ’14 for winning Best in Show in this year's Tompkins County PEGASYS Awards for their ICTV police comedy, “Loose Canons.”  The show follows the adventures of “two endearing, goofball cops” who “solve crimes nobody else can.” 
The show will now be sent on by Time Warner to the Hometown Awards, a national competition for access programs held by the Alliance for Community Media.

Student Media Convergence Begins!

When we began planning the new Ithacan newsroom last spring, the idea was that it would not only serve as an ideal workspace for the Ithacan staff and provide a showcase for the paper’s daily print and multimedia operations, but that it would also serve as a converged workspace that would incorporate aspects of ICTV, the campus television station; and WICB, the radio station; as well.
That goal took a large step toward realization Thursday night when Newswatch broadcast it’s first brief segment from the newsroom. When we renovated the space, the west end of the room was fitted with appropriate lighting for a television shoot. Now we have a camera in place, as well as fixed communication between the newsroom and the studio. Additional broadcasts, content sharing between the student media and an aggregated website are among the projects in the works.
Dean Diane Gayeski set the whole thing in motion last year, and the hard work of the Park School's Technical Operations team helped make it a reality.
Here’s Newswatch’s Jesse Feldman ’15 from the newsroom:

And here's a piece our multimedia team put together to document the event.

Chili Fest Brings Alumni to Town

From left, former editor-in-chief Erin Geismar ’09, former
multimedia editor Kaydi Poirier ’11, former managing editor
Casey Musarra ’11, and former design editor Michelle Barrie ’10

Erin in the big chair.

This year's Great Downtown Ithaca Chili Cook Off — better known as Chili Fest — brought crowds of people from near and far to The Commons, including Ithacan alumni. Erin Geismar ’09, Casey Musarra ’11 and Kaydi Poirier ’11 — “Team Newsday,” as we affectionately think of them, since all three of them are working there — made their annual pilgrimage on Feb. 15 to sample the city’s best chili. Former design editor Michelle Barrie ’10 came to town that night as well to join them for drinks and dinner. 

Assistant multimedia editor Stephen
Adams ’16 discusses digital media trends
with Kaydi and Casey.

The next day, Erin, Casey and Kaydi stopped by the Ithacan office to check out our new digs and say hello to current students. Erin even got to sit at the new editor-in-chief’s desk, a far cry from the desk crammed into the corner of the small office off 269 that she ran the paper from back in 2008–09.

Ithacan Named CSPA Crown Finalst

The Ithacan has been named one of 15 national finalists for the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s 2014 Crown Award in the competition’s “hybrid” category. The hybrid category is defined as “print publications that provide live coverage via website between print editions.”

The list of finalists in this category includes publications from Ball State University, Indiana University, the University of Pennsylvania, Iowa State University and the University of Oklahoma, among others. The winners, who will receive either a Gold or Silver Crown, will be announced at the Spring National College Media Convention in New York City, March 12–15.

The Ithacan was awarded Gold Crowns in 2013 and 2012, and a Silver Crown in 2011.

Founded in 1925, the CSPA is owned by Columbia University and operated as a program affiliated with its Graduate School of Journalism. The Crown Awards, first presented in 1982, are the organization’s highest recognition of overall excellence.

Work of Five Ithacan Students Honored

From left: Sabrina Knight ’16, Emily Fuller ’15, Erica
Pirolli ’13, Rachel Woolf ’15 and Steven Pirani ’16

The work of five staff members of The Ithacan has been honored with Gold Circle Awards by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association in its 30th annual Gold Circle competition. The awards are for work produced during the 2012–13 academic year.

The following work from The Ithacan was honored with awards:

Emily Fuller ’15 and Erica Pirolli ’13, First Place for Overall Tabloid Design

Sabrina Knight ’16, Second Place for Sports Photography, for "When Push Comes to Shove" (October 12, 2012, p. 28)

Rachel Woolf ’15, Third Place for Photo Illustration, for “Breaking the Bank” (April 11, 2013, p. 1)

Steven Pirani ’16, Certificate of Merit for General Feature Story, for “Local Indulgence: Guests Explore Origins of Food and Wine on New Tour” (April 4, 2013, p. 13)

Since 1984, the CSPA has recognized outstanding achievement in both verbal and visual categories for newspapers, magazine and yearbooks. Digital media categories were added in 2009. This year's competition attracted 12,847 entries produced by students at colleges, universities and secondary schools throughout the country. (Secondary schools are judged in a separate category from colleges and universities.)