The News Desk March 25
Welcome to the News Desk and welcome back from spring break! Staff from the Daily Eastern News used our Friday and Saturday of break to attend the Illinois College Press Association's annual conference. We won some awards! I'll tell you all about the conference and include all the award winning work in today's newsletter.
I was not a participant in today's podcast (except for behind the scenes)! I handed it over to editor-in-chief Corryn Brock and our advisor Joe Gisondi who also discussed our award winning paper.
17 Awards Won by the News Staff at the 2022 ICPA Conference
All entries had to be from 2021 and were submitted back before Christmas break- even most of us didn't remember what we entered! We competed in the "daily" division.
The staff as a whole won first place in the general excellence category for our website! The judges' critique mentioned several features which earned us this award, but my favorite part was that they said, "It's doing things different, and that counts sometimes more than anything else." They also complimented our events calendar- if you haven't seen it, check it out! Down at the bottom of our home page, you can see all sorts of upcoming events.
We also received first place in for our Opinions page from Oct. 25, 2021. This page included several interesting and timely pieces.
Corryn Brock placed first place in the multimedia reporting category for an article she put together after the huge seven vehicle wreck last semester. She included audio, an interactive map and a photo gallery to help readers understand the full story.
As a staff, we also placed second for a front page layout! The critique on this one mentioned how traditional our design was... we can't wait to show off our designs from the weekly format next year.
Members of the staff received third place in all these categories for all of these things!
Elizabeth Wood, senior journalism major – Multimedia Reporting.
Lizzy put together a great video, article and photos about last semester's performance of A Bright New Boise. Watch and read here.
Sports Editor Adam Tumino, senior journalism major – Headline Writing
Assistant Photo Editor Rob Le Cates – Spot News Photo
Photo Editor Ashanti Thomas – Sports Photo
Adam Tumino – Sports News Story
Adam loves sports- a field I simply don't understand- and consistently turns out engaging coverage of Eastern's teams and what's going on in the conference. OVC, Southland announce football scheduling alliance is a great example of his work.
Now on to our Honorable Mentions!
Multimedia News Editor Luke Taylor – Feature Story
That's me! I don't want to hype myself up too much, and I genuinely feel I could rewrite this story and improve it drastically, but I'm proud of the time and effort I put into my feature on Sister Cindy- mainly, Eastern's history with her before her TikTok stardom.
Adam Tumino – Column
In a world of serious opinion pieces on incredibly serious topics, some guy's scheme to solve the Suez Canal blockage stands out. Unfortunately, we never saw if it would work because someone else handled it first. Nevertheless, Adam does not exaggerate the time he spent researching this column.
Luke Taylor and Adam Tumino – Entertainment Podcast
Me again! And Adam! The judge called us "energetic hosts" and I've been living off of that high since I heard it. Specifically, we received the award for this episode about Goldfinger and No Time to Die, two James Bond films made years apart from each other.
Corryn Brock – News Story
One of the hardest things to learn as a student journalist (at least for me), is covering breaking news, especially when something intense is happening such as a crash or fire. However, Corryn is absolutely unstoppable in that area. Her ability to get on the scene on time and stay with the story, providing updates til the end, always impresses me. This article, another about that huge wreck, highlights her skill.
Corryn Brock – In-Depth Reporting
On the other hand, Corryn can also put her head down and just work on a story, following every little lead and finding information in places you'd never think to look. Her passion in working on this series of articles about Zella Powell, Eastern's first Black graduate, was absolutely infectious.
Entire Staff – Online News Site
I admit I'm not entirely sure why this is separate from the general excellence version, but that's okay. Our site is pretty solid!
Wait, there's more!
During the first day of the conference, photographers were sent on a "shootout." They were given four hours to take and edit four photos around the theme "city block." Both of our photo editors entered the contest and both placed!
Ashanti Thomas placed second for this one.
And Rob Le Cates placed third for this one.
Catch up on this week's news!
An army veteran and author visited Charleston's library and told people about her book and the story behind it.
A new LGBTQ+ psychology course just got approved!
Student senate discussed a potential room and board fee increase and the reasoning behind it.
Check out our print edition for various features on inspiring women around campus for Women's History and Awareness Month! (They're online, too, but this is my plug to pick up a physical copy. The cover looks phenomenal.)
Softball and baseball season have begun! Soon, so will the actual conference season.
The News Desk Podcast! Thank you to Corryn and Joe for taking over this week!
