Society of Professional Journalists Names Ithacan Website Best in the Northeast

 The Society of Professional Journalists has named The Ithacan’s website the Best Affiliated Newspaper Website in the Northeast Region for 2016. The website received the first place Mark of Excellence Award at the SPJ Region 1 conference April 8 at John Jay College of CUNY in New York.

The website now goes on to compete against the winners in the other 11 SPJ regions for the national Mark of Excellence Award. That award will be presented at the SPJ national convention Sept. 7–9 in Anaheim, California. The SPJ is the largest professional organization of reporters and editors in the country.

In addition, the Ithacan’s print newspaper was honored as a Finalist in the Best All-Around Nondaily Newspaper category.

(Shown in photo, from left: Ithacan Webmaster Evan Sobkowicz ’17 and Editor-in-Chief Kayla Dwyer’17 with the awards.)

New York Press Association Names The Ithacan Best College Newspaper in New York State

The Ithacan has been named the Best College Newspaper in New York State for 2016 by the New York Press Association. The award, the NYPA's top collegiate honor, was announced April 8 at the organization's annual convention at the Gideon Putnam Hotel in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Ithacan Editor-in-Chief Kayla Dwyer ’17, Webmaster Evan Sobkowicz ’17 and Proofreader Ben Gaynor ’17 attended the convention and accepted the award on behalf of the paper. The award was for work produced during calendar year 2016 (Kira Maddox ’16, spring editor-in-chief; Kayla Dwyer ’17, fall 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 General Excellence

First Place for Editorials

First Place for Sports Coverage

Second Place for Design

Third Place for Website 

Awards for Individuals

First Place for News Story — Sophia Tulp ’19 and Faith Meckley ’18

Third Place for News Story — Lauren Murray ’18 and Matt Hornick ’18

Honorable Mention for News Story — Vinica Weiss ’17

First Place for Feature Story — Faith Meckley ’18

Third Place for Feature Story — Mary Ford ’17

First Place for Photography — Yana Mazurkevich ’18

Third Place for Photography — Caitie Ihrig ’18

Ithaca College Publications Board Names Aidan Quigley ’18 2017–18 Ithacan Editor in Chief

The Ithaca College Board of Student Publications has selected junior Aidan Quigley ’18 as the 2017–18 editor in chief of The Ithacan. Quigley was appointed to the position by Diane Gayeski, dean of the Roy H. Park School of Communications, at the conclusion of the board’s annual meeting and candidate interview session on April 3. 
Quigley is a journalism major and politics minor from Trumbull, Connecticut, who has previously served as a reporter, assistant news editor, news editor and managing editor for the paper over the past three years. A Park Scholar, he is spending the Spring 2017 semester studying in Washington, D.C., where he is also interning as a breaking news intern at Politico. He has previously interned a reporter at the Westbury (Conn.) Republican-American and as a Rapid Response Team intern at the Christian Science Monitor in Boston. This summer he will intern at Newsweek in New York City.
Among his stated goals for The Ithacan are the enhancement of the paper’s digital-first online strategies and increased collaboration with other Park School student media. He will officially assume the editor in chief position on May 4.

High CSPA Honors for The Ithacan

From left: Ithacan Assistant Multimedia Editor Connor Duffy,
Assistant Life & Culture Editor Jake Leary, CSPA Executive
Director Edmund Sullivan, Assistant Photo Editor Connor Lange,
and Assistant Multimedia Editor Matt Mahoney at the Crown
Award Presentation in New York on March 12.

The Ithacan had a strong showing at the spring National College Media Convention in New York City, March 11–13. The paper was awarded the Columbia Scholastic Press Association Silver Crown for overall excellence for 2015–16 (Kira Maddox ’16, editor-in-chief), as well as the 2017 “Apple Award” for Best in Show in the newspaper category, presented by the College Media Association.
The Crown Award was in the “hybrid” category, which evaluates entries on the basis of the effectiveness with which they combine their print and online publications. The Best in Show Award was based on three issues of the paper submitted from the 2016–17 academic year (Kayla Dwyer ’17, editor-in-chief).

Meeting the Family

At our last Ithacan editorial board meeting before leaving for the spring National College Media Convention in New York last weekend, I told the board that I would be bringing the current editors who would be participating in the conference  to “meet the family” — namely our New York Ithacan alumni — at our annual spring dinner. I compared it to an extended family reunion where you meet a whole bunch of cool, interesting cousins you never knew you had.

From left: Jake Leary, Scott McDermott,
Graham Hebel, Fernando Ferraz
and Connor Lange.

And a family reunion is what it always feels like. This year’s group spanned more than two decades, from the class of 1997 to the current freshmen attending the conference. Forty of us turned out on Monday night despite the impending blizzard scheduled to start at midnight. The photo section was well-represented, with eight former and current editors present, including a rare appearance by Scott McDermott! And Jill Agostino stopped by — her first dinner with the New York crew since the Times moved her back to the city from D.C. (where our alumni are still missing her). 

Evin Billington, Miles Surrey,
Aaron Edwards and Frances Johnson

The alumni lineup consisted of Jill Agostino ’86, Nicolas Barajas ’08, Evin Billington ’16, Jaclyn Cataldi ’15, Jack Curran ’15, Jared Dionne ’13, William Earl ’09, Aaron Edwards ’12, Evan Falk ’09, Max Gillilan ’16, James Hawver ’07, Graham Hebel ’13, Frances Johnson ’16, Sami Khan ’02, Kira Maddox ’16, Scott McDermott ’97, Tucker Mitchell ’16, Casey Musarra ’11, Gillian Nigro ’14, Rachel Orlow ’13, Taylor Palmer ’14, Steven Pirani ’16, Matt Quintanilla ’07, Deepa Shah ’06, Elizabeth Sile ’11, Shawn Steiner ’13, Miles Surrey ’15, Andy Swift ’09, Andrew Weiser ’11, Jennifer Williams ’16, Stacey Coburn Williams ’07, Chloe Wilson ’14 and Vicky Wolak ’14.

Jim Hawver, Matt Quintanilla, Deepa
Shah and Stacey Coburn Williams

Current students who attended were Editor-in-Chief Kayla Dwyer ’17, Assistant Multimedia Editor Connor Duffy ’20, Photo Editor Fernando Ferraz ’17, Assistant Photo Editor Connor Lange ’19, Assistant Life & Culture Editor Jake Leary ’20 and Assistant Multimedia Editor Matt Maloney ’20.

Jack Curran, Gillian Nigro and Kira Maddox

Kayla Dwyer, Libby Sile and Bill Earl

It was terrific to see everyone, as always. Thank you to the good people at Heartland Brewery and Chophouse at on W. 43rd St., who made sure we had a good time, as they have for many years now. And special thanks to Deepa Shah, without whose organizational talents — and generosity — these events would be a lot more difficult to manage. 

Andrew Weiser, Casey Musarra
and Evan Falk

Shawn Steiner, Jennifer Williams
and Steve Pirani

Taylor Palmer and Chloe Wilson

The Daily Signal Fights for Recognition

In 2014, the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, started its own journalism outlet, The Daily Signal, installing former Ithacan editor-in-chief Rob Bluey ’01 as editor-in-chief. Since then, Bluey has been arguing for the Signal’s legitimacy as a news source in the face of criticism by mainstream news organizations and others that it practices not journalism but partisan political advocacy. Here's the latest skirmish in that battle. 

Looking Good!

The designed pages from the March 2 issue of The Ithacan. 

The Return of the Alumni Blog!

It's back! Like a phoenix being reborn from the ashes, Dracula rising from the grave or Immanuel Kant awaking from his dogmatic slumbers, the Ithacan Alumni Blog is making its return after lying dormant for almost a year and a half. Very soon you'll be seeing news of the many Ithacan alumni making their marks on the world of media, politics, business and culture, as well as notes on the achievements of our current students as they gain the knowledge and skills that only The Ithacan can teach them. Watch this space for more.