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.

Editor Erin Geismar Selected for New York Times Institute

Ithacan editor in chief Erin Geismar has been selected for this year’s New York Times Student Journalism Institute, to be held during winter break in Miami.
The institute offers student journalists an opportunity to work with prominent professionals in a newsroom environment. All expenses for students are paid, including transportation, and the students receive a stipend.
Nic Barajas ’08 attended last year’s institute. Now he’s designing pages for the Times.

Alumni Come to Town

Last weekend’s Park Scholar Alumni Board meeting brought a number of former Ithacan editors to town. We got to see Joe Geraghty ’04 and his wife Brenda (Ludwig) ’03; Katie Maslanka ’06, who is now doing campus ministry work in Denver; and Michelle (Theis) Cuthrell ’04.
Perhaps best of all, we finally got to meet Michelle’s 2-year-old son, Connor (shown with Michelle above), who was excited about his new baby brother or sister scheduled to arrive in April.
We also had dinner with Nic Barajas ’08, who happened to be in town as well. And they tell us the legendary Bill Earl ’08 was also around, but we didn’t get to see him.

Ithacan Ranked as Gold Medalist

The Ithacan has been named a gold medalist for the fall 2007 and spring 2008 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 on the basis of more than 150 specific criteria.
This year the newspaper’s scores on the critique’s 1,000 point scale were 948 for fall and 948 for spring.
The CSPA consistently ranks The Ithacan as a gold medalist, its highest category.

Meeting the New President

On November 19, Washington, D.C. alumni gathered at the Willard InterContinental Hotel on Pennsylvania Ave. to meet new Ithaca College President Tom Rochon. The event attracted a number of former Ithacan editors and staff members. Above (left to right): Steve Chaggaris ’94, Kelly Rohrer ’94, Jeff Selingo ’94, Kristin Muenzen ’00, Tom Rochon, Rob Bluey ’01, Melissa Bluey ’00, Melissa Bloomrose ’02, Anna Uhls ’07, Michael Bloomrose ’02, Joe Geraghty ’04, Nate Weixel ’08, senior Tristan Fowler and Anne Walters Custer ’05. Photo courtesy of Rob Bluey ’01.

Vanessa Schneider and Anna Uhls Visit Digital Journalism

It’s been a good semester for Digital Journalism. We brought in two alums — Vanessa Schneider and Anna Uhls, both class of 2007 — to share their experiences with our current students. Vanessa is working for newyorktimes.com, and Anna for washingtonpost.com.
Vanessa came October 7, and discussed her work with the Interactive unit at the Times. She supervises a staff of 13 comments moderators and works to develop new ways to involve readers with the Times site.
[Video courtesy of Erica Hendry. The volume is low, so turn it way up.]



She visited with Wes Siler, a blogger for jalopnik.com (his title is Road Test Editor, which has to be the coolest job ever — he road-tests cars and motorcycles and then reviews them) and creator/editor of hellforleathermagazine.com, a Web site for motorcycle enthusiasts. He talked about building a career as an online journalist and blogger. They both did double-duty in the class and as guest speakers for an evening SPJ evening meeting.

Anna Uhls (right in photo below) came to the class November 18 and talked about her work as a producer and video journalist at washingtonpost.com.


Part of her job was covering both national party conventions and other campaign events for the Post. She spoke in two sections of Wenmouth Williams’ Media and Society course, Jeff Cohen’s Covering the Election and then in Digital Journalism, as well as meeting with students in an SPJ evening session.
We’re fortunate to have alums like these willing to share their experience and stay involved with the program.

More Pacemakers for The Ithacan

The Ithacan’s status as one of the best college newspapers in the country was reaffirmed this weekend when the paper was awarded the 2008 Pacemaker and Online Pacemaker awards — widely regarded as “the Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism — by the Associated College Press. The 2008 award is for work published during the 2007–08 academic year (Erica R. Hendry, editor in chief).

The Pacemaker recognizes excellence in college and university print publications; the Online Pacemaker is awarded to outstanding collegiate Web sites. This is the third time The Ithacan has won the Pacemaker in the past four years, and the third year in a row it has won the Online Pacemaker.

The awards were presented at the 87th annual National College Media Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. The Associated Collegiate Press is the oldest and largest national membership organization for college journalists in the country. This year's competition was judged by the staff of the St. Petersburg Times.

Shown above (front to back): Editor in chief Erin Geismar, news editor Libby Sile and former editor in chief Erica Hendry.