And the winner is... To return to the list of most recent awards, click here. 2003 DPAA Writing and Photo Awards In January 2004, the DP Alumni Association presented three awards at the annual DP Banquet. The DPAA's Michael A. Silver Writing Award honors the best single piece of writing from the past year, while the DPAA's Photography Award honors the best single photograph of the year. Newly added this year is the Page One Award, which recognizes the best hard news or investigative reporting and writing.
A star-studded group of DP alumni participated in the judging of this year's contests. The Michael A. Silver Award entries were judged by Luke De Cock '96, sports reporter at the Raleigh News & Observer; Anita Sama '73, editor at USA Today; Charlie Ornstein '96, reporter at the Los Angeles Times; Alan Sepinwall '96, TV critic at the Newark Star-Ledger; and Rich Gordon '80, associate professor of journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. The $500 annual prize comes from an endowed fund donated by Michael Silver '75, a Vice President at Tribune Interactive and former DPAA Board member.
You can read the winning entry, a feature in 34th Street Magazine by the magazine's managing editor, senior Daniel McQuade about the demise of the Palladium restaurant on Locust Walk. (For the first time in the nineteen year history of the award, McQuade was a two-time winner: he won last year's Silver award for a feature article about boxing at Philadelphia's renowned boxing venue, the Blue Horizon.)
"From the first paragraph, the story made me feel as if I was sitting in the Palladium, enthralled in conversation," commented judge Charlie Ornstein. "The writing was crisp and had just the right tone."
Alan Sepinwall agreed: "I somehow managed to get through four years at Penn without ever setting foot inside the Palladium. Daniel McQuade's colorful, exhaustive account of the place's ups and downs makes me wish that I had."
The new Page One Award entries were judged by Helen Jung '92, a Seattle-based Associated Press reporter who has recently move to the Portland Oregonian; Hannah Bloch '84, a reporter for Time magazine; Adam Rubin '95, sports writer at the New York Daily News; Randall Lane '90, a freelance journalist; and Bob Frost '60, investment adviser and former New York Timesreporter. The $500 prize was provided by DPAA Board members Frost and David Martin '77.
The winning entry was a series of three articles by sophomore Jon Passaro about a racial profiling incident on campus last fall which involved campus police arresting an associate house master for one of Penn's college houses. You can read the initial story which broke the news, a follow-up several days later, and a second follow-up the next day which announced an investigation into the incident ordered by Penn President Judith Rodin.
| The Photography Award judges were Robyn Voshardt '88, president of fine arts studio Voshardt/Humphrey Artworks in Florida; Sarah Putnam '74, freelance photographer in Cammbridge, Massachusetts; Tracy Gitnick '95, deputy photo editor for Associated Press in Los Angeles; and Jacques-Jean Tiziou '02, freelance photographer in Philadelphia. (Tiziou is the first person to serve as a DPAA judge who had won the award, in 1999, when he was a student.) See the winning photograph, by sophomore Phil Leff. His photo at a rally protesting Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum's comments about homosexual acts depicts two men kissing in front of a counter-protester. | The winning entry in the DPAA 2003 Photography contest. Click for a larger version of the image. |
Several judges lauded the photographer's work in bringing life into what could have been a drab shot of a protest rally. Judge Sarah Putnam said that the winning photo "gets across the messages of conflicting sides in both a graphic and human way. [It's] a news photo that doesn't depend on the caption to get across the heart of the information."
Judge Tracy Gitnick commented: "The protest photo is what I would consider a classic news photo. It has all the elements to tell the story in one layered image. Its not the kiss that makes this an interesting photo. A moment like that is no longer 'shocking' to most newspapers as it once was. (Although, he did get the kiss at just the right moment.) The composition works to pull the viewer's eye first to the two men, then to their contrasting counterpart protesting behind them, then to the traffic jammed up behind him in front of what looks like a government building. Protests can be difficult to shoot as the images often get redundant and generic looking. Well executed!"
Fall 2003 The DP on November 8 received the coveted Pacemaker award from the Associated Collegiate Press for the third consecutive year. The Pacemaker is widely regarded as the highest award in the country for a college publication, and is often referred to as the Pulitzer Prize for college journalism. The award was announced at a national college media conference in Dallas.
This was the sixth Pacemaker award in the DP's history, and the first time the paper has ever won it more than twice in a row. Newspapers are judged on coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership on the opinion page, evidence of in-depth reporting, design, photography and graphics. This fall's award was based on newspapers from the 2002-2003 school year, splitting the 118th and 119th boards.
The DP also received awards in Dallas for First Place in News Page Design (for last December's year-in-review), Second Place in Newspaper Page One Design, and Second Place in Special Supplement (for the paper's spring Dining Guide).
Spring 2003 The DP received a large number of awards in the annual College Newspaper Business and Advertising Managers (CNBAM) contests. The paper won four First Place awards: Best Training Program, Best Spot Color Ad, Best House Ad Campaign, and Best House Online Banner Ad. A Second Place award for Online Banner Ad for a Customer, and Third Place Awards for Classified Promotion and Media Kit rounded out the DP's seven awards. It was the largest number of awards for the DP in many years.
2002 DPAA Writing and Photo Awards In January 2003, the DP Alumni Association presented two awards at the annual DP Banquet. The DPAA's Michael Silver Writing Award honors the best single piece of writing from the past year, while the DPAA's Photography Award honors the best single photograph of the year.
This year's writing judges were John Eisenberg '79, sports columnist at the Baltimore Sun; Ross Kerber '89, staff writer at the Boston Globe; Liz McMillen '83, senior editor of the Chronicle of Higher Education; Charlie Ornstein '96, health policy reporter at the Los Angeles Times; and Roxanne Patel '93, staff writer at Philadelphia magazine.
You can read the winning entry, a feature in 34th Street Magazine by 2002 Sports Editor (and now 34th Street Managing Editor) Dan McQuade. "Wow. What an awesome piece," commented judge Ornstein. "This story sings from the first sentence to the last. The writer manages to weave so much detail, history and crowd reaction into the story that I felt I was there myself."
The judges also awarded an Honorable Mention to another sports writer, David Zeitlin, for his feature on Coach Lake, Penn's longest-tenured coach.
| The photography judges were Anne Scott Neborak '82, chief staff photographer for the News of Delaware County in suburban Philadelphia; Robyn Voshardt '88, president of Voshardt/Humphrey Artworks in Florida; and Paul Hu '94, a freelance news photographer based in Hong Kong. See the winning photograph, by 2002 Photography Editor Lauren Karp. She turned what could have been a routine assignment to shoot a small picture of a bicycle shop for 34th Street Magazine's annual "Best of Penn" honors into a creative -- and now award-winning -- shot. | The winning entry in the DPAA 2002 Photography contest. Click for a larger version of the image. |
This was the second consecutive year the DP received a Pacemaker, and the fifth in the paper's history. Last year's award was the first in three years. Newspapers are judged on coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership on the opinion page, evidence of in-depth reporting, design, photography and graphics.
This fall's award was based on newspapers from the 2001-2002 school year, splitting the 117th and 118th boards. The judges reviewed three issues from last fall, including the paper's day-after coverage of 9/11, plus one paper from this past spring.
The Pacemaker was awarded to a total of 17 newspapers, with divisions for dailies, non-dailies, and monthly papers. Other winners in the daily division were The Daily Illini (University of Illinois), The Daily Northwestern (Northwestern University) , The Daily Egyptian (Southern Illinois University), and the Harvard Crimson.
The DP also was one of ten daily newspapers at four-year schools to be honored with a "Best of Show" award at the annual conference.
In addition, the Dailypennsylvanian.com web site was named a finalist in the online division of the Pacemaker competition.
The award was handed out in Orlando just hours before the annual Homecoming open house in West Philadelphia, so many returning alumni from the 2002 graduating class heard the good news upon their first return to the DP newsroom. And not unlike a commercial newspaper winning a Pulitzer prize, news of the award prompted a small-scale champagne celebration in the newsroom on Sunday.
You can read more in the DP article about this year's Pacemaker award.
Spring 2002 awards The DP received three national first place awards at the annual CNBAM (College Newspaper Business and Advertising Managers) conference in Colorado in early April.
Best Classified Group Promotion, for the newspaper's sublet guide Best Business Training Program Best General Media Kit/Marketing Package
Of the paper's media kit, the judges said: "Pretty darn slick! Very professional, polished, and consistent look, with good info. Excellent work!" A judge of the Training Program entries commented that the DP's program "may be the most far-reaching program of any school. Bravo!"
The same week, The Daily Pennsylvanian was named best all-around daily paper in the northeast region of the Society of Professional Journalists competition. The national award winners will be announced in the fall.
On the award front for individual achievements, a number of DP staff members were recognized in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association's annual Gold Circle Awards this March.
David Zeitlin: First Place -- Sports News Eric Dash: Third Place -- Sports Feature Kyle Bahr: Certificate of Merit -- Sports Feature Dan Fishback: Second Place -- On-Campus Issues Column Eric Dash: Certificate of Merit -- On-Campus Issues Column Jonathan Margulies: Second Place -- Off-Campus Issues Column Marla Dunn: Certificate of Merit -- In-Depth News/Feature Binyamin Appelbaum: Certificate of Merit -- In-Depth News/Feature Staff: Third Place -- Fling Photo Story Pete Ruscitti: Certificate of Merit -- Single Feature Photo Alyssa Cwanger: Second and Third Place -- News Photo Portfolio Alyssa Cwanger: First Place -- Sports Photo Portfolio Staff: Certificate of Merit -- Overall Design Rod Kurtz: Third Place -- News Page Design Jon Shazar: Certificate of Merit -- News Page Design Jon Shazar : 2 Certificates of Merit -- Info Graphics
And at the state level, the DP garnered several awards in the 2002 Keystone Collegiate Press Awards:
For best feature story, Sebastian Stockman won for "The face of adversity" Tristan Schweiger's feature story, "Running the track toward tenure" won a second place award For editorials, Jonathan Margulies received the first place award And Alyssa Cwanger's ballerina photo won second place in the news/feature photo category For the cartoon/graphic illustration category, Noel Fahden received an honorable mention for his work in 34th Street Magazine
Fall 2001: DP receives the prestigious 'Pacemaker' award The Daily Pennsylvanian received the Pacemaker award, one of the top honors in college journalism, on October 27, 2001. It was the first time since 1998, and the fourth time in the paper's history that it received this award. Read the DP article about it...
