The student staff of The Columbia Chronicle won 31 awards from the Illinois College Press Association this past weekend, including top honors for a print publication from a medium-sized school and a coveted “sweepstakes” award for most points earned across categories.

The 2022 awards, announced Saturday in Chicago, covered work from spring through fall last year.

The Chronicle won the awards in both the open category for all schools and for those in schools with 3,000 to 6,999 students. 

Last year, the paper won 29 awards. 

What they’re saying: “This really shows the range of the Chronicle as a media operation,” said Jackie Spinner, the paper’s new faculty advisor. “Our students won across categories, including graphic design, podcasting and reporting.”

The winning work was overseen by former Faculty Advisor Curtis Lawrence and former General Manager Travis Truitt, whom Spinner credited for leading the paper through the COVID-19 pandemic and budget cuts.

“I don’t think many in our campus community fully appreciate what a powerhouse communication program we have at Columbia,” Spinner said. “You really see it at a ceremony like this, which recognizes the best college journalism in the state. Our students are among the best.”

Background: The Chronicle has a new student management team each semester. The student editors-in-chief during the award period were Camryn Cutinello and Noah Jennings during the spring 2022 semester, and Anna Busalacchi and Jennings for the fall 2022 semester.

The current editor-in-chief is Olivia Cohen, who won an individual first place award for a feature story on Columbia’s reproductive rights curricula in the 1970s.

“It is incredibly rewarding to see the Chronicle staff, individually and collectively, recognized for their work documenting the Columbia community. It truly takes a village to do this kind of work,” Cohen said. “But at the end of the day it isn’t about us; it is about our readers and the people who trust us with their stories.”

By the numbers: 

The Chronicle staff was awarded the following among medium-sized schools:

• 1st place for general excellence in print 
• 2nd place for general excellence on the web  
• 1st place in the sweepstakes category  
• 1st place for DEI coverage
• 1st place for multimedia reporting
• 1st place for feature page design
• 2nd place for headline writing
• 2nd place for photo essay
• 2nd place for front page layout
• 2nd place for feature page design

Wins in the open category for students from all schools included:

• 1st place for editorial cartoon to Kayla Macedo
• 1st place for graphic illustration to Kailey Ryan
• Honorable Mention to Avery Timmons for a critical review other than film
• 4th Place to Anna Busalacchi and Noah Jennings for the newsletter

Individual first places for medium-sized schools went to 

• Kamy Smelser and K’Von Jackson for editorial
• Olivia Cohen for feature story
• Camryn Cutinello and Noah Jennings for news story
• Samaher AbuRabah for sports column
• John McGowan for podcast entertainment and culture 
• Abra Richardson for spot news photo

Second-place wins for medium-sized schools went to

• Irvin Ibarra and Elias Gonzalez for opinion page
• Rachel Patel for column
• Sam Tucker for sports photo
• K’Von Jackson for news photo

Third-place for medium-sized schools went to 

• Nathan Sirkin for column
• Anna Busalacchi for feature story
• Camryn Cutinello and Noah Jennings for in-depth reporting
• Abra Richardson for feature photo
• K’Von Jackson for spot news photo 
• Elizabeth Rymut, Peter Midwa and Abra Richardson for multimedia reporting
• John McGowan for podcast news

“Not only are we telling stories of the students that come to our campus in the South Loop, we are also telling the stories of Chicagoans, and we are also making sure that our coverage is diverse,” said K’Von Jackson, co-director of photography for the Chronicle and multiple-award winner. “We understand that the field will be working in requires diverse voices and diverse perspectives, and that’s what the Chronicle continues to do.”