Commonwealth Times Wins 23 Awards from Virginia Press Association

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VCU’s independent student-produced newspaper, The Commonwealth Times, won 23 awards in the Virginia Press Association’s college contest. The awards included nine first-place finishes, and Chris Conway swept the sports photo category, winning all three awards. 

“The CT’s success shows the strength that can come when students of many majors and backgrounds work together,” said Gregory O. Weatherford, student media director. “The Commonwealth Times and other student-run outlets of the VCU Student Media Center demonstrate how deep the pool of talent and ambition goes at this university. I am endlessly impressed at what they can accomplish.” 

Student staff members from The Commonwealth Times and seven other Virginia college or university student-produced newspapers participated. All of the entries were published between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2012, and the winners were announced earlier this month. 

The complete list of awards for The Commonwealth Times is below. 

·        Editorial Cartoons: Philip Whisenhunt (first place), Dan Nacu (second place)   

·        Illustrations: Dan Nacu, “America’s Need for Direction,” (first place); Philip Whisenhunt, “Blowing Virginia’s Anti-Smoker Legislation Back at Delegates” (second place) 

·        Information Graphics:  Samantha Wittmer, “Getting perspective: A small look at university expenditures,” (second place); Ying Chen (third place) 

·        Excellence of front page: Staff - First place 

·        Excellence of general makeup: Staff - Second place 

·        Excellence of sports pages: Staff - First place 

·        Feature photo: Mel Kobran, “Dance professor” (third place) 

·        General news photo: Amber-Lynn Taber, “Beards gone wild,” (first place);  Amber-Lynn Taber, “Trayvon Martin Rally,” (third place); Amber-Lynn Taber, “Vigil for students,” (third place) 

·        Sports photo: Chris Conway, “ODU coach sounds off,” (first place); Chris Conway, “Storybook season comes to an end,” (second place); Chris Conway, “NASCAR culture,” (third place). 

·        Editorial writing: Shane Wade (second place) 

        Feature story writing: Michael Todd, “Newspaper nuptials,” (third place) 

·        General news writing: Mason Brown, Ryan Murphy and Mark Robinson, “Student killed by another student who was driving drunk,” (first place); Mark Robinson, “New Pell grant requirements to affect thousands at VCU,” (second place) 

·        Series of news stories: Ryan Murphy, “Living with HIV,” (first place); Samantha Foster, Michael Todd and Mechelle Hankerson, “Year-long audition,” (third place) 

·        Sports writing: Jim Swing, “Burgess leaves illustrious career,” (first place) 

The Virginia Press Association college contest dates back to 1996.

Student media is part of VCU’s Division of Student Affairs and is open to students of all majors. Weatherford noted that VCU student media outlets won 16 awards in April from the Society of Professional Journalists

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