Big Wins for The Beacon

April 6, 2018

The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) just announced winners and finalists in its Mark of Excellence Awards for college media in Region 10, which is made up of colleges and universities in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. The Beacon won nine First Place awards, and those winners advance to the national SPJ Mark of Excellence competition in these categories:

Best Digital-Only Student Publication – Beacon staff
Online Feature Reporting –Rachel Ramirez
In-Depth Reporting* – Clare Duffy, Hannah Sievert, Cheyenne Schoen, Rachel Rippetoe
Breaking News* – Rachel Rippetoe
General News Reporting* – Claire Desmarais, Brennan Robinson
Sports Writing* – Ben Arthur
General Column Writing* – Rachel Rippetoe (columns on Harvey Weinstein, the Obamas, the media)
Feature Writing* –Hannah Sievert
Feature Photography*- Annika Gordon

*Category is for universities with fewer than 10,000 students.

National winners will be announced later this spring and recognized at the SPJ Excellence in Journalism conference in Baltimore this September.

The Beacon also placed as a regional finalist (Second or Third place) in four categories:

Feature Writing* – Olivia Sanchez
Editorial Writing: Rachel Rippetoe, Olivia Sanchez, Dora Totoian and Owen Price (editorials: cultural appropriation at Halloween, Greek life FOMO, climate change)
Sports Writing* – Ben Arthur
Online/Digital News Videography – Cheyenne Schoen

For more information contact Nancy Copic, student activities, at copic@up.edu.

Sam Holloway, business, was interviewed by Brews News for a feature, “Beer Is A Conversation: Sam Holloway,” which can be found at this link.

The University of Portland was featured in “32 Reasons to Love Portland Right Now,” an article in Willamette Week for the week of February 10-16. UP was named the no. 7 reason for “The University of Portland Continues to Turn out Some of the Best Women’s Soccer Players in the World,” as if we didn’t know that already here on The Bluff. See the article using this link.

Brian Adams, business, was interviewed for a segment of Marketplace, titled “The State of the Two-Week Notice Rule,” which aired on February 11, 2020, on WNYC FM radio. He was also quoted in an article, “Fed Chair Flags Corporate Bond Risk,” in Advisor News on February 11, 2020.

Bryan Rookey, sociology & social work, presented his paper, “Drugged Driving and the Opioid Crisis: Status Differences in Opioid Misuse” at the Annual Meeting of the Western Society of Criminology, Phoenix, AZ, February 2020.

John Orr, English, wrote a book review of Teaching Representations of the First World War, ed. Cohen and Higbe, in The Space Between: Literature and Culture 1914-1945 vol. 15, November 2019.

Patrick Murphy, performing and fine arts, recently conducted two honor bands: the Lower Columbia Community College Honor Band (January 11 in Longview) and the North County Honor Band (February 1 in Hockinson). In total, over 150 students from 18 different high schools participated. He was also the guest clinician for the Oregon Music Educators Association District 2 conducting workshop on February 6, where he mentored middle and high school band directors. In addition, the UP Wind Symphony performed to a capacity crowd at the Soreng Theater in the Hult Center in Eugene, as featured performers at the 2020 Oregon Music Education Association Conference on January 17.