‘Reporter’ magazine wins state awards

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Kimberly Bubello

‘Reporter’ won five top awards in the New York Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest, including first-place for general excellence.

Reporter, the student-run magazine at Rochester Institute of Technology, won five top awards in the New York Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest, designed to measure papers of similar size against one another in categories such as news, photography, and advertising.

Approximately 4,000 entries are received each year.

The most prestigious was their first-place win for “general excellence.”

Comments from the contest organizers: “RIT’s Reporter is simply outstanding in every aspect. From the intense, bold look, to the strong and well-written stories really make this rise to the top. The photography, the graphic elements, the layout, the fonts, the justified columns, the page bleeds … really, REALLY outstanding. The entire team that works on these publications should be extremely proud of what they produce together.”

Reporter placed second as the “Best College Newspaper in New York State”; The Ithacan, from Ithaca College, placed first.

Also receiving awards on the Reporter staff:

• Bryanne McDonough, a physics major from West Whately, Mass., first-place in the “news story” category, for her story about the Autism Speaks program.
• Nathan Lichtenstein, a networking and systems administration major from Montville, N.J., first-place in the “column” category.
• Rachel Fox, a graphics design major from East Aurora, N.Y., first-place in the “design” category.
• Steve Markowitz, a film and animation major from Cherry Hill, N.J., and Alyssa Jackson, a double major of journalism and international and global studies, from Naples, N.Y., first-place in the “editorial” category.

The winners receive a plaque.

“I’m just so incredibly proud,” said Reporter Editor-in-Chief Alyssa Jackson. “I don’t have a group of people who inspire me more. These are the most amazing and talented people I have ever known.”

She said between 60 and 70 students help produce each of the nine annual editions. Reporter began at RIT in 1951 as a newspaper and converted to a magazine-style publication in 1959.

“It’s just a great honor,” Jackson said. “We really have a great team of people. We can only grow from here.”

Rudy Pugliese, graduate director of Communication & Media Technologies, has served as Reporter’s faculty adviser for two decades.

“I’m proud of the Reporter staff whether they win awards or not. In the past, the weekly Reporter competed with college presses ranging from annuals to dailies,” Pugliese said. “This year Reporter transitioned to a monthly magazine with a 24-hour online news service, and they still blew away the competition. After 20 years as adviser, I’m still in awe of what they do and how well they do it.”