Daily Trojan wins multiple national journalism awards

The Daily Trojan has received the ACP Newspaper Pacemaker Award, one of the top honors for college journalism, for the first time since 1991.
The Associated Collegiate Press presented the award to Daily Trojan staff members at its annual conference in Dallas on Oct. 28. Out of 43 finalists, the Daily Trojan was one of 23 newspapers to receive the prestigious award.

“The Pacemaker is the association’s preeminent award and is often called the Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism,” said Laura Widmer, ACP executive director. “ACP is honored to recognize the best of the best.”

According to the website, entries are judged based on several categories: “coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership, design, photography and graphics.” This year’s award was granted for issues the paper published during the 2016-17 academic year, including special issues on binge drinking, diversity on campus and sexual assault.

Several Daily Trojan staff members also took home individual awards. Sports editor Julia Poe won fourth place for Sports Story of the Year, while staff illustrator Devon Manney won third place in Illustration, under the Design of the Year category.

Staff photographer Anvay Ullal received an honorable mention for Spot News Photo of the Year in the Photo Excellence category, while Fall 2016 editor-in-chief Matt Lemas received an honorable mention for Four-Year College Reporter in the Reporter of the Year category. The Daily Trojan staff also received an honorable mention for Multimedia Sports Story of the Year.

“The Pacemakers are the gold standard of college journalism and receiving this honor really validates the long hours, and hard work the staff has put in,” said Emma Peplow, Daily Trojan’s current editor-in-chief. “Our campus has been the subject of many difficult conversations this past year and I’m so proud of the way we told these stories.”

Other news organizations that received the Newspaper Pacemaker this year included The Daily Tar Heel from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The Daily Pennsylvanian from the University of Pennsylvania and Daily Wildcat from the University of Arizona.

The Daily Trojan was one of only three publications running five days a week to receive the Newspaper Pacemaker this year.

The Daily Trojan was last nominated for a newspaper Pacemaker in 1994, and last won the award in 1991. The paper last received the Online Pacemaker, a separate category that only evaluates the organization’s online content, in 2016.