By: Nancy Copic, Assistant Director of Student Media & Adviser to The Beacon
From THE BEACON BLOG
When I saw the email subject line “Gold Circle Winners Announced,” my reflex was to steel myself for disappointment. My expectations could not have been lower.
Gold Circle Awards are national awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association based at the graduated school of the Columbia School of Journalism in N.Y. There are so many better-funded, impressively-staffed college journalism programs and student media programs out there, I believed The Beacon could maybe score an honorable mention. At best.
Not that I don’t swell with pride over the work of the students journalists at The Beacon. I obviously had enough faith to enter The Beacon’s work. It’s just that, well, our little Beacon, we’re not really in the major leagues. Are we? The email revealed the surprising (to me, at least) answer: Yes, at least in 6 awards categories. Six awards and three certificates of merit (honorable mention). Did I mention these are national awards?
So… drumroll, please, I am thrilled to announce The Beacon won the following Gold Circle Awards:
Editorial Writing- 2nd place: Caitlin Yilek and Rosemary Peters- “Where are all the women?”
Personal Opinion: On-campus issues- 3rd place: Caitlin Yilek- “Breaking my silence”
Personality Profile- 2nd Place: Laura Frazier- “Impossible is Nothing”
Certificate of Merit: Natalie Wheeler- Homeless teen turned UP student
Overall design:Tabloid format- 2nd place: Hannah Gray, Rosemary Peters, Elizabeth Tertadian
Page one design,tabloid format -2nd Place: Hannah Gray-”‘Big Bang Theory’ star returns to The Bluff”
Certificate of Merit:Hannah Gray, Rosemary Peters- “Would you pay $6.95 for this?”
Single subject news or feature package, single page, tabloid- 3rd Place: Will Lyons and Shellie Adams- “Netflix Nosedives”
Certificate of Merit: Rosemary Peters – “What’s in our air?”
Where are they now?
Of the eight students who won Gold Circle Awards, four graduated from UP last May:
Former Beacon Editor-in-Chief Rosemary Peters, who was an engineering major at UP, is pursuing her interest in scientific journalism at Imperial College London, where she will earn an master’s in Science Communication.
Former Beacon news editor Hannah Gray does research for a think tank in Washington, D.C.
Caitlin Yilek is an editorial writer and copy editor for the St. Cloud Times in her home state of Minnesota.
Natalie Wheeler won a Snowden Foundation paid journalism internship, and is currently reporting at the East Oregonian in Pendleton.
Now for the four returning Beacon staffers who won Gold Circle Awards:
Liz Tertadian is editor-in-chief of The Beacon.
Laura Frazier is news editor of The Beacon. She also won a Snowden Foundation internship, and worked as a reporter for the Portland Tribune and Forest Grove News-Times last summer.
Will Lyons is opinions editor of The Beacon.
Shellie Adams is design editor of The Beacon.
Looking forward to more astonishing achievements from these students and alums!