Ithacan Named Finalist for SPJ Award

The Society of Professional Journalists has named The Ithacan a finalist for the Mark of Excellence Award for Best Non-Daily Newspaper in the Northeast region. The paper is consistently ranked among the top three papers in the Northeast, and two years ago was ranked number two in the country by SPJ.
In addition, three students were named finalists in their respective categories for work published in The Ithacan in 2009: Andy Swift ’09 (feature story), junior Allison Usagave (photo illustration) and Allison Wassink ”09 (sports photography).
The winners will be announced at the SPJ Region 1 Spring Conference in New York City, April 9–10. First-place winners from SPJ's 12 regions go on to compete for the national Mark of Excellence Award in their categories.

Mellman Goes to Philly.com

Josh Mellman ’09 has accepted a position as a web producer intern at Philly.com in Philadelphia. He'll be updating stories, photos and other content, as well as developing pages and projects for the site.

Tricia Nadolny Wins Award for Young Writers

Tricia Nadolny ’09 has been named the recipient of the Walter Spearman Award for young writers for her work at the Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record during an internship last summer. The award, which recognizes outstanding writing by a journalist with two years or less experience on daily newspapers, is named for a longtime journalism professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was announced last night at the North Carolina Press Association winter meeting in Chapel Hill.

Look at the Size of This Thing

Construction on the college's new A&E center is moving ahead. If you haven't been to campus lately, you've missed the steady growth of this structure, which fills the space between the Gardens and Boothroyd. Here's the view from behind the East Tower.

Current Students Meet NY Alums

New York Ithacan alumni met with current staff members Monday night at our annual dinner gathering, held in conjunction with the spring National College Media Convention. The evening always proves to be a great networking opportunity, and this year was no exception. Professional contacts and job referrals were made, and at least one internship offer came across the table. Current students Lindsey Hollenbaugh ’10 (Editor in Chief), Aaron Edwards ’12 (Assistant News Editor), Michelle Skowronek ’11 (Accent Editor), Whitney Faber ’12 (Assistant Accent Editor), Casey Musarra ’11 (Sports Editor) and Colleen Lowery ’12 (Assistant Design Editor), Melanie Breault ’11 (Staff Writer) shared a meal and conversation with alumni Paul Colombo ’00, James Sigman ’98, Emily Paulsen ’05, Laura Bauman Shalem ’06, Deepa Shah ’06, Vanessa Schneider ’07 and Andy Swift ’09 at the Heartland Chophouse on E. 43rd St.. We also had a chance to see former Editor in Chief Erin Geismar ’09 while we were in town.
Top photo: Andy Swift, Melanie Breault and Whitney Faber; bottom: Stacey Coburn and Emily Paulsen, with Vanessa Schneider in the background.

Libby Again!

This has been quite a year for junior Libby Sile. Last spring she received the Park Scholar Rising Junior Award. Last semester she served as Ithacan opinion editor before going off to study in Dublin this spring. Earlier this month she was awarded an ASME internship.
And now she has been selected as a winner of the Roy W. Howard National Collegiate Reporting Competition, which comes with a nine-day international study tour of Japan. This is the second consecutive year an Ithacan staffer has won: Last year Tricia Nadolny ”09 toured Korea and Japan as a competition winner.
Libby has an exciting summer ahead of her. We look forward to her return to The Ithacan in the fall.

Ithacan Wins Best in Show

The Ithacan finished the 2010 Spring National College Media Convention in New York March 16 by winning the Apple Award for Best in Show. This is the seventh time in the nine years the award has been presented, and the fifth consecutive year, that the paper has won the award in its category.
Shown above: 2009–10 editor in chief Linsdsey Hollenbaugh with the award at the convention.

Ithacan Wins Second CSPA Online Gold Crown

For the second consecutive year, The Ithacan Online, the Ithacan’s Web site, has been awarded an Online 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. 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 last year.
The award was presented March 14 at the spring National College Media Convention in New York City. Only five college newspaper Web sites in the country received 2010 Gold Crowns. The other four were the Indiana Daily Student (Indiana University), the Iowa State Daily (Iowa State University), OUDaily.com (University of Oklahoma) and The Daily Pennsylvanian (University of Pennsylvania).

Libby Sile Awarded ASME Internship

Libby Sile ’11 has been awarded an American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) internship for summer 2010. Libby has served as a reporter, assistant news editor, news editor and opinion editor at The Ithacan, and last spring was awarded the Park Scholar Rising Junior Award. This semester she is studying in Dublin.
ASME interns are placed at prestigious magazines in New York or Washington. Previous Ithacan editors to be awarded the internship include Kelli Grant ’04 (Smithsonian Air and Space Magazine), Michelle Theis Cuthrell ’04 (Smithsonian Magazine), Elizabeth Quill ’06 (National Geographic), Vanessa Schneider ’07 (InStyle) and Erin Geismar ’09 (Smart Money).

Where's Alex?

After graduating from Ithaca College in 2002, Alex Morrison spent three years in Hollywood working in the art department for "The Island," at a major advertising agency TBWA/Chiat/Day and as a salesman at Alan Gordon Enterprises. Since beginning graduate work at American University he has won awards for filmmaking including Best Documentary Storytelling, Best Environmental Film, a Gold Peer Award for Best Non-Dramatic Student Production, and is currently screening a film on public television called "Ecoviews: Reclaiming the Bay."
Currently Morrison is a Fellow at the Center for Teaching, Research and Learning, and has created a Social Networking site for environmentalists called "DIY: What Can I Do?" (www.diywcid.com) which encourages users to post videos and photos sharing the good news of environmental activism on popular media sharing sites.

Class of 2009 Update

Here's what some of last year's graduating class is up to:

Former editor in chief Erin Geismar writes, “After graduation I enjoyed a summer on Long Island with family and friends. In September, I was hired as a reporter by The East Hampton Press (www.27east.com) and in February will move to the swankiest small town in the world. One of two reporters, I'm constantly writing. I cover village government and the school board and am responsible for most of the paper's feature stories.

Former managing editor Joshua Mellman is writing web content and blogging for a law office, interning at a monthly magazine, and freelance writing for publications and companies — all in the South Jersey region.

Former online media editor Andy Swift is the weekend editor at Bonnie Fuller's new celebrity/entertainment news site HollywoodLife.com in New York. He has full control over the site on Saturdays and Sundays, and goes in during the week on scattered days for writing/reporting.

Emma Strachman, who was an assistant photo editor and online media editor, writes, “I'm currently working as a makeup artist for Bobbi Brown. I didn't really know what I was getting myself into, but I love it! I'm being creative in a very different light. I'm also co-producing an independent film that is projected to start shooting in February. We'll be entering the film into festivals and screening it in the greater Albany area.”

Former chief proofreader Tahleen Ovian is starting graduate school at Simmons College. She'll be working toward a master's degree in library and information science, with a concentration in Youth Services. She’s also still working at Barnes & Noble part time.

Farewell to Erica Hendry

Got together with Aaron Munzer ’08, Kara Cusolito ’08 and Byard Duncan ’09 over break to say goodbye to Erica Hendry, who, having completed her journalism degree in May, has just completed her music degree. She leaves Ithaca with those degrees, extensive experience in both print and multimedia journalism, a couple of great internships under her belt (USA Today, Chronicle of Higher Education), and experience as one of the best editors in chief (2007–08) the Ithacan has seen. In short, she leaves well prepared for the world of journalism. Her first step is to Washington, D.C., where she'll spend the next six months writing for Smithsonian magazine. We'll miss her.

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.