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Advocate takes home 16 awards in statewide newspaper contest
The Advocate won 16 awards May 8 in the statewide newspaper contest — more than any previous year — including seven first-place awards and a second place in the general excellence category.
“I am very proud of the staff this year. I think they did an excellent job and I am honored to work beside such talented writers, photographers and designers,” said Christina Hammett, editor-in-chief of The Advocate.
The annual contest is sponsored by the Oregon Newspaper Publishers’ Association and judged by professional journalists around the state. The Friday event in Corvallis was the ONPA Collegiate Day and included panel discussions, seminars and workshops on a variety of journalism topics.
The Advocate’s general excellence award was highlighted by judges’ praise for the newspaper’s “strong newswriting and design presentation.”
Hammett led the staff with four awards: first place for best overall writing, best news story and best sports photograph and second place for best feature story.
Associate Editor Kelsi L. McKenzie took home three first-place awards, finishing on top in the best columnist and best graphic categories and also taking top honorsfor best news photograph.
The Advocate staff was honored with a first-place award in the best series category for its coverage of November 2008 election issues.
The newspaper took second-place in the best website category, reflecting the recent redesign of its website (www.advocate-online.net), led by first-year editor Chelsea Van Baalen with the help of the staff and assistant adviser Dan Ernst.
The Advocate won several other second-place awards: Jon Fuccillo (best sports story): Sanne Godfrey (best columnist); Dan Green (best cartooning) and Matt Kallio (best feature photograph).
Stephen Floyd (best editorial) and Mick Eagleson (best sports photograph) each won honorable mention awards.
The judging was divided into three categories: Division 1 for four-year colleges with daily newspapers, Division 2 for four-year colleges with non-daily newspapers and Division 3 for two-year colleges with non-daily newspapers. The Advocate is in Division 3.
Judges considered 485 entries in 21 categories and awarded 63 first-place, 62 second-place and 14 honorable mention awards.
The ONPA, founded in 1887, is a professional association of the state’s professional and collegiate newspapers. It has sponsored the Collegiate Newspaper Contest since 1992 and twice before The Advocate has won 14 awards.