Congratulations Class of 2012!

 The Ithacan said goodbye to four editorial board members and about a dozen staffers as they graduated this morning under sunny skies in Butterfield Stadium. They’ll be a hard act to follow. Congratulations to all our graduates, and may the Carrot of Enlightenment guide you to happiness.

Below, clockwise from top left: Editor in Chief Aaron Edwards, Sales Manager Derek Rogers, Sports Editor Kevin McCall and Year in Review Editor Whitney Faber.

The Best Editorial Board in the Country

Congratulations to this year’s Ithacan editorial board for producing the best weekly college newspaper in the country. And congratulations to graduating seniors Editor in Chief Aaron Edwards, Year in Review Editor Whitney Faber and Sports Editor Kevin McCall. You’ll be missed. 

Ithacan Senior Moments 2012

“Senior Moments,” a video capturing our graduating seniors’ reflections on their experience at The Ithacan, has become an annual tradition since Andy Swift made the first one in 2009. Here is this year’s edition, produced by juniors Kari Beal and Alexandra Evans.

Looking for Some Interesting Reading?

The Ithacan’s two special annual publications, Year in Review (our magazine-style wrap-up of the year’s news and views) and Lit: A Narrative Nonfiction Magazine, are now available online for your reading pleasure. You can click on the images above, or go to www.theithacan.org and scroll down to the bottom of the page for the links. Enjoy!

Living the Good Life

Curious about what 2008 grads Aaron Munzer and Kara Cusolito have been up to lately? Of course you are. Check out “Farm Foundation,” Kacey Deamer’s front page story in the final Ithacan issue of the year.

Ithacan Named Best in the Country

The Society of Professional Journalists has named The Ithacan the Best Non-Daily Newspaper in the Country in its annual Mark of Excellence Awards competition.
The award is for calendar year 2011 (Spring editor in chief Libby Sile ’11; Fall editor in chief Aaron Edwards ’12). Papers submitted issues on or near three dates specified by SPJ. This year’s issues submitted were published on March 3, October 6 and December 1, 2011. The Ithacan won First Place in SPJ’s Northeast Region in March, and then went on to compete against the winners in SPJ’s other 11 regions for the national award.
The award will be presented at SPJ’s national convention in September in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. SPJ is the largest professional organization of journalists in the country.
Congratulations to all the editors and staffers who made this the most successful year in the paper’s history.

Geismar Shows Communities “In Another LIght”

If you haven't been following “In Another Light,” the video interview series on Newsday’s website, you should definitely put it on your regular viewing list. Former Ithacan editor in chief Erin Geismar ’09, now a video journalist at Newsday, reveals the interesting and unusual stories of people in the Long Island communities she covers. A retail executive who is a former NFL player, a high school baseball star who had a brush with celebrity as an American Idol contestant and a Shelter Island bartender who doubles as a magician are among the characters whose stories she has presented. Click here to view Erin’s introduction to the series.

And Speaking of Turning Up in Interesting Places ...

Find the former Ithacan editor in chief in this picture. (Coolest former EIC gig ever!)
Greenville Derby Dames

You Just Never Know Where People Will Turn Up

That’s former assistant photo editor Carly Chamberlin Johann ’05 (third from left), whose field hockey stick is still a key fixture in the Ithacan office.

Ithacan Named Online Pacemaker Finalist

The spring college journalism award cycle has come to an end, but the fall cycle is already beginning. We've just learned that The Ithacan’s website is a finalist for the Online Pacemaker Award for 2012. Widely regarded as “the Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism,” the Pacemakers will be presented at the Fall National College Media Convention in Chicago at the end of October.
The website won the Online Pacemaker in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010, and was a finalist in 2009.

Stacey Coburn Marries Austin Williams

I love going to Ithacan weddings, so to have two of them just over a month apart has made this a great spring. The latest alum to get married was former Accent and news editor Stacey Coburn ’06, who tied the knot with Austin Williams on March 31 in a ceremony and reception at the Montauk Club in Brooklyn.

The bride walked down the aisle to the music of the Velvet Underground. The ceremony, presided over by Methodist Bishop Alfred Johnson from the Church of the Village, included readings by IC alums Emily Gallagher ’06 and Lara (Marshall) Lisbe ’06.

Stacey was an absolutely beautiful bride, and the reception was great fun. It was also good to catch up with Emily and Lara after a couple of years. Stacey was always one of my favorite students, and it was wonderful to be there and see her so happy. We also danced together, making her the only student I've ever danced with ... except Joe Geraghty 04, at his wedding. But that's another story.

Emily Gallagher reads a poem by
Pablo Neruda.

Lara Marshall Lisbe reads from the
Book of Romans.

Stacey presents the cake.

The Ithacan Has a New Editor in Chief

Kelsey O’Connor, a junior journalism major with minors in Italian, photography and anthropology, has been selected as the paper’s 2012–13 editor in chief. The appointment was made tonight at the annual meeting of the Ithaca College Board of Student Publications.

Currently the paper’s news editor, O’Connor has also served as assistant news editor and assistant photo editor. She has interned at Boston Magazine and worked as a freelancer for the Patch.com website in her hometown of Hamilton, Mass. Her one-year term begins at the conclusion of this academic year in May.

Ithacan Named Best in New York State

From left: Assistant News
Editor Erica Palumbo and
Proofreader Marissa Smith
at the NYPA Convention.

The New York Press Association has named The Ithacan the Best College Newspaper in New York State for 2011. The award was announced yesterday at the NYPA annual convention at the Gideon Putnam Hotel in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.  The award is the top honor in NYPA’s annual Better College Newspaper Competition. 
The paper was also awarded:

• First Place for Design
• Third Place for Editorial Writing

In addition, the following individuals won awards for their work:

• Graham Hebel ’13, First Place, Photography
• Emily Park, Second Place, Photography
• Chris Zivalich ’12, Second Place, Column Writing
• Patrick Feeney ’13, Second Place, News Writing
• Elma Gonzalez ’14, Third Place, Feature Writing

The awards were for papers published during the 2011 calendar year (Libby Sile ’11, spring semester editor in chief; Aaron Edwards ’12, fall semester editor in chief). This is the 10th time The Ithacan has been named best in the state in the past 12 years. 

Ithacan Named Best in Northeast

The Society of Professional Journalists has named The Ithacan the best non-daily student newspaper in the Northeast Region. The paper received the First Place Mark of Excellence Award on Saturday at the SPJ Region 1 Conference in Stony Brook, N.Y. The Ithacan now goes on to compete against the winners in the other 11 SPJ regions for the national Mark of Excellence Award. The winner will be announced at the SPJ national convention this fall. The SPJ is the largest professional organization or reporters and editors in the country.

In addition, the paper's website won third place for Best Affiliated Website. Aaron Edwards ’12 won second place in the Feature Writing category for “No Day But Today,” which appeared in the October 27, 2011, issue of The Ithacan; Taylor Long ’13 won third place in the Feature Writing category for “Rhythmic Roots,” which appeared in the paper‘s November 3, 2011, edition.

Beth Quill Addresses Park Scholar Finalists

Beth Quill ’06 with Park
Scholar Director Matt Fee
outside the Park Scholar office.

Beth Quill ’06 (editor in chief 2005–06) was on campus Sunday to appear as the alumni speaker at the Park Scholar Finalists Weekend dinner. She stopped by the Ithacan office to catch up and meet some current students. She just finished her fourth year at Science News in Washington, D.C., where she is features editor.

Students and Alumni Schmooze in NYC

Clockwise from left: Matt Quintanilla,
Shawn Steiner, Elma Gonzalez, Kaydi
Poirier, Libby Sile, Stacey Coburn, Lisa
Boyars Gehrke, Sean Fennessey,
Bill Earl, Aaron Edwards, Kelli Grant,
Flora Wang and Nic Barajas.

Our trip to New York for the Spring National College Media Convention meant another opportunity to get alumni together with current students for dinner, networking and conversation at our usual watering hole, Heartland Brewery on W. 43rd St.
This year‘s turnout was one of the strongest yet. Nineteen alumni mixed with the eight students attending the conference, sharing stories of their student and professional experiences. At least one job connection and several internship leads came out of it.

Clockwise from left: Cole Louison,
Andy Swift, Erin Geismar, Matthew
Desii, Deepa Shah, Matt Kelly, Andrew
Weiser, Lara Bonner, Allie Healey and
James Sigman.

Among the highlights: a rare appearance by Anthony Iaffaldano ’99, the first chance to catch up with Sean Fennessey ’03 since he took over as online editor at GQ magazine, a visit from Patrick Doyle, who transferred to NYU his junior year and is now an editor at Rolling Stone, a chance to congratulate Libby Sile ’11 for the CSPA Crown Awards won by the paper under her editorship, and celebrating Matt Quintanilla ’07’s birthday.

From left: Nic Barajas, birthday boy
Matt Quintanilla and Deepa Shah.

This year’s alumni attendees: Nic Barajas ’08, Mike Cagnazzi ’98, Paul Colombo ’00, Stacey Coburn ’06, Patrick Doyle, Bill Earl ’09, Sean Fennessey ’03, Lisa Boyars Gehrke ’01, Erin Geismar ’09, Kelli Grant ’04, Anthony Iaffaldano ’99, Cole Louison ’00, Kaydi Poirier ’11, Matt Quintanilla ’07, Deepa Shah ’06, James Sigman ’98, Libby Sile ’11, Andy Swift ’09 and Andrew Weiser ’11.

Current students in attendance: editor in chief Aaron Edwards, managing editor Lara Bonner, assistant news editor Elma Gonzalez, assistant Accent editor Allie Healey, assistant sports editor Matt Kelly, assistant photo editor Shawn Steiner, chief copy editor Matthew Desii, and assistant design editor Flora Wang.

From left: Bill Earl, Patrick Doyle, Kaydi
Poirier and Libby Sile.

Call Me Maybe

Check out this music video the Ithacan editors made while at the National College Media Convention in New York. It’s no wonder I love my job, working with this bunch.

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

One More

The Ithacan has just been named one of three finalists for the Apple Award for Best in Show at the New York conference next weekend.

Ithacan Named SPJ Region 1 Finalist

The Society of Professional Journalists has named The Ithacan as a finalist for the 2012 Mark of Excellence Awards for Best All-Around Non-Daily College Newspaper in the Northeast Region and Best Affiliated Newspaper Website in the Northeast Region. The paper is consistently ranked among the top three college newspapers in the Northeast by SPJ.

In addition, senior Aaron Edwards’ story, “No Day But Today,” which appeared in the Oct. 27, 2011, issue of The Ithacan, and junior Taylor Long’s story, “Rhythmic Roots,” which ran Nov. 3, 2011, have been named as finalists in the Feature Writing category.

The winners will be announced at the SPJ Region 1 Spring Conference in Stony Brook, New York, on March 24. Regional winners go on to compete against the winners in the other 11 SPJ regions to compete at the national level in their respective categories.

“Profile in Liberty”

Rob Bluey ’01 was recently the subject of a profile by Jacqueline Otto on the America’s Future Foundation website. Rob is heading up the investigative journalism team at the Heritage Foundation. You can follow their reporting on their blog, Scribe.

Finalists for the Online Crown

In addition to being finalists for Newspaper Crown Awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association this year, which I announced in December, we’ve learned that The Ithacan is a finalist for the Online Crown Award as well. This is the first time we’ve been finalists for both semesters (Fall 2010 and Spring 2011) in print and for online in the same year. Winners will be announced during the spring National College Media Convention in New York at an awards dinner at Columbia University on March 18.

Lisa Boyars Gets Married

There are few things I enjoy more than an Ithacan alumni wedding, and few have been more fun than that of Lisa Boyars ’01 and David Gehrke, which took place February 18 in the Twenty Four Fifth Ballroom in New York. David is a great guy, and Lisa was a beautiful bride, as anyone who knows here would expect. The ceremony was moving — Rabbi Richard Berman, at the couple’s request, repeated all of the Hebrew prayers in English for the benefit of the linguistic impaired such as myself — and the reception was a terrific party.
It was also a chance to catch up with a number of Ithacan alumni attending, including Abby Bertumen ’01, Carrie Cochran ’00, Paul Colombo ’00, Vanessa Leong ’00 and Cole Louison ’00. Carrie, who flew in from Hawaii, and Abby were bridesmaids.

Another Fight Club Reunion

Clockwise from top left, Andy Swift,
Michael Serino, Stephanie Serino, Erica Hendry,
Erin Geismar, Jen Nevins and Edon Ophir at Bar Basque

Over the winter break we took advantage of the brief return of Edon Ophir to the U.S. from Israel to hold another class of ’09 Fight Club reunion. We managed to get everyone from that year’s Ithacan writing workshop together at Bar Basque (another great restaurant recommendation from Erin Geismar) in New York — with the exception of Byard Duncan, who has migrated to the West Coast. After dinner we migrated ourselves, down to a bar in Murray Hill, where we met up with Emma Strachman and Revi Roza. It was a great time, as always.

Edwards Awarded New York Times Internship

At least one current senior won’t be spending the spring semester worrying about what’s going to happen to him after graduation. Ithacan Editor in Chief Aaron Edwards will be heading to the Metro desk at the New York Times on a James Reston Reporting Fellowship, covering stories for print and the Web. He’ll also have a chance to branch out to other departments at the Times, including some work in social media and video. 
“I feel humbled and blessed to have been chosen for the Times’ reporting fellowship,” Aaron said. “It’s an incredible time to be a journalist, and I’m thrilled for the chance to learn from some of the best in the industry. There’s so much exciting encouragement to end the year on a high note.”
He’ll be in good company, with IC alumni Jill Agostino ’86, Nic Barajas ’08, Nick Corasaniti ’08 and Adam Ellick ’99 already on the Times staff.

Esquire Internship Turns Into Job for Libby Sile

Here's more evidence that if you have talent and work hard, it pays off. After graduating last May, Libby Sile ”11 went to New York to pursue her dream of working in the magazine industry. Here’s the latest news:

“After bouncing from internship to freelance gig since moving to New York in June, someone finally hired me! I began interning for Esquire in September and at the end of my internship, I was hired full time as an editorial assistant. I'll be the assistant to the magazine's executive editor and deputy editor and will help some of my favorite writers with research and interviews. As the presidential election gains momentum over the next year, I’ll be working with our politics blogger as well. I couldn’t be more excited to be starting my first job at my favorite magazine and look forward to seeing where it takes me.”


 Congratulations Libby!

Ithacan Named Crown Finalist

The Columbia Scholastic Press Association has named The Ithacan a finalist for the newspaper Crown Award for both semesters of the 2010–11 academic year. The Crown Awards are the CSPA’s top honors, presented each year at the spring National College Media Convention in New York City. This year’s convention is March 18–20.

Casey Lands at philly.com

Casey Musarra writes:

“You can take the girl out of Jersey, but you can't take the Jersey out of the girl. I think this just about every day as I travel over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge into Philadelphia. I'm currently commuting about an hour and a half from North Jersey to the City of Brotherly Love where I'm working as a sports content producer for philly.com, an aggregate site of The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, which oddly enough are housed in the same building and owned by the same company. I work on the back end of the site posting stories, writing headlines and captions, cutting photos, etc. I've only been there for four days, but I'm loving the excitement of a fast-paced newsroom that for me is all sports all the time. It's a dream come true to be in a position where working on Sunday doesn't take away from watching football on Sunday.

“I'm hoping to move down to the Philadelphia area to nom on boatloads of Philly cheesesteaks in the next month or so, but for now I'm enjoying my long car rides to have solo karaoke sessions and get my fill of Mike and Mike in the Morning.”

A Record Day for the Ithacan Website

Last Thursday, The Ithacan’s website experienced 3,793 visits — a single-day record — as the result of The Huffington Post tweeting and linking on its Facebook page to Taylor Long’s story on the college’s Health Promotion Center program director’s email to faculty suggesting they assign additional work to students over Cortaca weekend in an attempt to curtail excessive drinking. A Chronicle of Higher of Education blog also picked up on the story, adding to our web traffic.

Aaron Edwards is Everywhere

Ithacan Editor in Chief Aaron Edwards has been popping up all over the place as a featured student in the college’s new “Ready” marketing campaign. Advertising featuring him has turned up in The New York Times, on Pandora and in a wide range of other media, including PIX’s website in New York. (Screenshot courtesy of Liz Crowley Pontillo ’04)

The Ithacan Wins Best of Show

From left: Assistant News Editor Erica Palumbo, Assistant
Photo Editor Rachel Orlow, Chief Copy Editor and Sales
Manager Marissa Smith and Managing Editor Whitney
Faber in Orlando

The Ithacan print edition was awarded first place, and the Ithacan website was awarded second place, in their categories in the Best of Show competition at the National College Media Convention in Orlando, Fla., October 27–30.
The paper was also presented with a Newspaper Pacemaker Finalist Award at the convention. The Pacemakers, presented each year by the Associated Collegiate Press, are widely regarded as “the Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism” and are among the most prestigious student journalism awards in the country.
The paper has been a finalist eight times in the past 10 years, and won the award in 2005, 2006 and 2008. The website has won the Online Pacemaker Award four times in the past six years.

Ithacan Named CSPA Gold Medalist

The Ithacan has been named a Gold Medalist for both the Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 semesters in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s annual college newspaper critique.

Each year the CSPA evaluates member papers on overall content, news, depth reporting, features, opinion/editorial, sports, arts/entertainment, editing/headline writing and design/graphics based on more than 150 specific criteria. This year the paper’s scores on the critiques 1,000-point scale were 965 for each semester. The CSPA consistently ranks The Ithacan as a Gold Medalist, its highest category.

Among the judge’s comments, “You do an excellent job with this paper. Content is fresh, newsworthy, often unexpected. The look is also excellent: professional and interesting.”

Rob Bluey Swings by the Office

Rob Bluey ’01 and Ithacan photo
editor Michelle Boulé in the Ithacan
office.

Former Editor in Chief Rob Bluey ’01 came to Ithaca on Oct. 16 for the Alumni Association Board of Directors meeting and stopped in at The Ithacan office. He visited with some current staff members and then took me to lunch. (I know alumni are successful when they start taking me to lunch.) Rob is currently heading up The Heritage Foundation’s investigative reporting unit. You can follow his work at Scribe: Bluey Reports.

Lisa Boyars Launches New Project at Condé Nast

It’s always a pleasure to see Lisa Boyars ’01, so when she said she was coming to town for Fall Splash, I headed up to campus to visit with her and to meet her fiancé, Dave Gehrke. Lisa’s career at Conde Nast has been nothing short of stellar. Always eager to help our students, she agreed to come back the next day to meet with and advise our advertising staff. Here's what she has to say about her latest venture:

“In May 2011, I launched a new division of the organization: Conde Nast Ideactive.  We are a Brand Agency built on the Conde Nast DNA of igniting culture.
“Through a partnership with Conde Nast Ideactive, consumer brands are now able to leverage the same assets & resources used to build our editorial brands (like Vogue, Glamour, GQ, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Wired, Allure, Style.com, Epicurious, etc.) and apply them to tell their own powerful stories.  Current clients include Tourneau (custom online content), Cadillac (experience series with national chefs), GM (TV series with Conde Nast editors), and Swarovski (affluent database outreach). 
“I specifically am the Senior Director of Client Solutions – overseeing client engagements from strategy & concepting through execution.”

From left: Ithacan sales reps Taylor Palmer, Megan Harrison, sales manger Marissa Smith, Lisa Boyars ’01 and sales rep Patrick Duprey

Weiser Joins Tech Startup

Weiser back at his post.

Among the alumni who returned to campus for Fall Splash was former Sports Editor Andrew Weiser ’11, who has moved to New York and is already putting his many talents to use. He writes:

“In addition to deciphering the New York City subway system and dodging taxis, I’ve been spending my time interning for The Cools, a tech startup company, in Soho.

 “The Cools is a social online marketplace that is redefining the relationship between the buyer and seller, while tailoring every users’ experience to their different tastes.

 “At The Cools, I wear many hats, which is made harder by the fact that I sit on a fitness ball. I was hired as a Social Media Intern and began laying the ground work of our community outreach and user acquisition. Leveraging Twitter, Facebook and email, I helped spread the word about The Cools.

 “I’ve transitioned into a role where I work with our different environments, testing functionalities and making sure the user experience is the best it can be. With a background in Journalism, I also assist in the copy writing, which is different experience considering many of my coworkers are French.

“ It’s a combination of my passion for technology and writing, and I gladly shoulder the expenses to be able to say I get out of bed excited to go to work. C’est la vie.”

Fall Splash Brings Back Ithacan Alumni

From left: Rich Morris ’81, Jeff Selingo
 ’95, Mike Nagel ’04 and Alyssa Gardina ’08.

From left: Jill Kirtland Hughes ’03,
 Kelli Grant ’04 and Rob Engelsman ’10

Fall Splash brought quite a few Ithacan alumni back to campus to participate in activities and hang out with friends. Among the weekend’s events were two panel discussions sponsored by the Park School on Oct. 14. Former Ithacan Editor in Chief Jeff Selingo ’95, now vice president and editorial director of The Chronicle of Higher Education, and former News Editor Kelli Grant ’04, senior consumer reporter at SmartMoney.com, participated in “Using Social Media to Your Professional and Personal Advantage” at 2 p.m. Then former staff writer Cole Louison ’00, now at GQ magazine and the author of the recently published “The Impossible: Rodney Mullen, Ryan Sheckler, and the Fantastic History of Skateboarding,” currently the #1-selling book on skateboarding at Amazon.com, participated in “The Future of Communications: How Do We Reinvent Our Media Industries and Audiences” at 4 p.m. (Photos by Jacob Lifschultz)

A Facelift for The Ithacan

The redesigned Ithacan website is now live. Check it out. And take a look at this video of the editors discussing the changes.

Makes You Want to Move to the Berkshires

The Berkshire (Mass.) Eagle is reaching out to potential readers through a promotional campaign that includes our own former editor in chief Lindsey Hollenbaugh ’10.

Redesigned Website On the Way

Get ready for this to change.

The Ithacan has a major website overhaul in the works! Our new webmaster, Honest Charley Bodkin, is hard at work revamping the site to make it better looking, more user-friendly and better able to showcase our multimedia. What we've seen so far looks great. And the good news is, Charley's only a freshman, so we'll have him around for a while.

The redesigned site will launch on Thursday, Sept. 29. Mark your calendars.

Ithacan Named 2011 Pacemaker Finalist

The Ithacan has been named a Newspaper Pacemaker finalist for 2011 by the Associated Collegiate Press. The winners of the award — widely regarded as the “Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism” — will be announced at the ACP/CMA National College Media Convention in Orlando, Fla., on October 29.
The Ithacan won the Newspaper Pacemaker in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008, and was a finalist in 2009 and 2010. The Ithacan Online won the Online Pacemaker in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010, and was a finalist in 2009.
The Associated Collegiate Press is the oldest and largest national membership organization for college journalists in the country. This year's Newspaper Pacemaker competition was judged by professional journalists in the Washington, D.C., area.

Libby Sile at Esquire

Here’s the latest from last year’s editor in chief, Libby Sile ’11: “After moving down to New York in early June, I started working at a start-up politics website, but left to work for the summer at Inc. Magazine doing research for the print publication, and writing stories and slideshows for the web. I was applying for jobs in the meantime, but got offered an internship at Esquire that I couldn't refuse. I just started, but it looks like I’m going to be doing a lot of research, fact-checking and maybe even some writing.”

Another Brew Fest Reunion

From left, Rachel Heiss, Max
Steinmetz, Andrew Lovell,
Erica Hendry and Whitney
Faber in the Ithacan office.

In what has become an annual tradition, Ithacan alumni returned to town in force for Ithaca Brew Fest September 3.
Max Steinmetz ’08, Erica Hendry ’09 and Andrew Lovell ’08 came by campus the day before and stopped in at the office, where they had the chance to meet current Sales Manager Rachel Heiss and Managing Editor Whitney Faber. Later on I had the opportunity to introduce Lovell, who as sports editor created the first Ithacan Sports Preview section back in Fall 2007, to Harlan Green-Taub, our current assistant sports editor, who had just finished working on this fall's preview section.
Then on Sunday, a bunch of us got together for brunch at Mahogany Grill. Sadly, the photos didn't turn out very well, but we  had Steinmetz, Hendry and Lovell,  Sara Bempkins ’09,  Erin Geismar ’09, Casey Musarra ’11 and her brother Blair, Tahleen Ovian ’09, Colleen Shea ’09 and Andy Swift ’09 around the table.

The Ellsworth-Connelly Wedding

Charlie Ellsworth ’04 and Caitlin Connelly ’05 returned to Ithaca to be married August 27, with a ceremony and reception at the Ithaca Farmers' Market. It was a perfect summer evening for it. The ceremony was held down by the water, with the reception following in the market space itself.

Caitlin had been managing editor and Charlie sports editor in 2003–04. Joe Geraghty ’04, who had been their editor in chief that year, came up from Brazil for the wedding. He checked into Casa Serino for the weekend, so we had plenty of time to catch up.

Joe Geraghty covers the wedding.

Former editor in chief Anne Walters Custer ’05 and husband Roger Custer ’04, and former managing editor Natalie Lyons Silver ’04 and husband Steve Silver ’04, were also in town for the ceremony. Charlie's boss, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), was also in attendance.

Of the many weddings of alumni my wife Stephanie and I have attended, this was the third in which both the bride and groom were former Ithacan editors (the two previous ones being Rob and Melissa Bloomrose Bluey in 2003, and Michael and Melissa Thornley Bloomrose in 2004). Relationships that can survive a year of Wednesday nights at The Ithacan can probably survive anything.

Despite worries about Hurricane Irene, which passed up the East Coast that weekend, the couple took off for their two-week honeymoon in Spain. Stephanie planned the trip for them, so I trust all went well. Charlie and Caitlin are very special people to us. It was a joy to be there with them.

From left, Roger Custer, Anne Walters Custer, Nora Silver, Natalie Silver and Steve Silver at Purity Ice Cream

In a final treat that weekend, the next day I met up with Steve and Natalie Silver, along with Anne and Roger Custer, at Purity so I could meet Steve and Nat's daughter Nora, who spent the wedding night in the care of her grandparents. A beautiful and sweet-natured child, as one would expect coming from solid Ithaca College stock.

Catching Up With Alex Leary

One of the good things to come out of this summer's D.C. trip was reconnecting with Alex Leary ’97. Alex was one of the best journalists from the first group of students I worked with at The Ithacan, but we lost touch after he graduated. From time to time I'd hear about the good work he was doing at the St. Petersburg Times, and would check his stuff out, but our paths never crossed. Then this summer I heard he was now in Washington covering politics for the paper. I dropped him an email, and he stopped by our dinner at the Old Ebbitt.
It was great seeing him again and catching up. He spent time talking to the others at the dinner, sharing what he'd learned through the years. We won't lose touch again.
How satisfying to see one of our best writers land one of the best beats at one of the best papers on the country. You can check out his work here.