The Cougar Chronicle
Editors, writers and cartoonists for The Cougar Chronicle picked up six awards July 11 at the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2013 awards for publications in the San Diego area.
In the College Media categories, Chronicle staffers won three first place awards, a second place and two honorable mentions for articles and cartoons published from spring 2012 to spring 2013. The Cougar Chronicle was competing with newspapers at San Diego State University, Palomar College and several other community colleges. More than 200 journalists attended the ceremony at the Bali Hai Resort in San Diego.Pam Kragen, faculty adviser for The Cougar Chronicle, said she is especially proud of the newspaper’s success in the awards because this is the first year the students have entered the contest.
“Over the past two years, we’ve worked hard to rebuild the Chronicle into a truly professional, new media organization, with a trained news staff, a state-of-the art website and a TV channel,” Kragen said. “We’re really excited at our progress and determined to do even better next year.”
Most of the awards picked up by Chronicle staff were related to the paper’s investigative series of stories on Matt Weaver, a junior business major from Orange County who was arrested on campus in 2011 for trying to rig the ASI student elections using hundreds of stolen student IDs and passwords. Weaver was running for the office of ASI president and was caught in the act by campus information services employees casting votes for himself with other students’ online identities. Weaver is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on July 15.
Earning first place in the News Story category for the story “700 students caught up in vote-tampering scandal” were Chronicle co-editor Kristin Melody and feature editor Jessie Gambrell. Melody led the paper in 2012-2013 with co-editor Morgan Hall.
A first place award was also picked up in the News or Feature Series category by Melody, Gambrell, news edigor Melissa Martinez and arts editor Juliana Stumpp for an ongoing series of articles on the ASI election scandal.
Martinez also won an honorable mention in the In-Depth Reporting category for her individual story on Weaver, headlined “FBI probing ASI election fraud.”
Cartoonist Stephen Di Padova won a first place award in the Original Illustration or Cartoon category for his humorous comic strip “Jobs You Can Get as a College Graduate.”
Melody won second place in the Multicultural Story category for her article “Dream Act stirs hope, controversy.”
And staff writer Fredrick Misleh earned an honorable mention in the In-Depth Reporting category for his series of articles on expired permits in campus elevators.
The overall college newspaper first place award went to SDSU’s The Daily Aztec. And second prize was awarded to San Diego City College’s City Times.