UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

The Beacon

Clark Library: UP Student Newspapers Digital Archive

The Clark Library is pleased to announce the launch of an online UP Student Newspapers Collection. In October 2019, the library received an Oregon Heritage Grant to digitize and preserve UP’s student newspapers: The Columbiad and The Beacon. It took a year and a half to digitize the print newspapers which are housed in the University Archives. Now, eleven decades (1902-2016) consisting of 2,242 issues and over 26,000 pages are accessible through the Clark Library’s Digital Collections portal. Anyone with an Internet connection can browse the newspapers, try the keyword searching feature to look up specific people and events, or see a selection of highlighted issues including the popular April Fool’s “The Bacon” issues.

For more information, contact Philip Vue, Clark Library, at vue@up.edu.

The Beacon: Third In U.S. for Best University Student Publication

Student media advisor Nancy Copic, student activities, reports that that The Beacon has placed third nationally for Best University Student Publication in the Catholic Press Association 2020 Media Awards. DePaul University placed first and University of Dayton placed second.

Both of those programs have strong journalism curricula, so once again the University of Portland can consider it a point of pride to see The Beacon so highly regarded. The awards will be announced publicly in June. For more information use this link.

Beacon Staffers Shine Again

The Society of Professional Journalists Region 10 Mark of Excellence Awards were announced recently, and UP students journalists were named as winners and finalists in the following categories:

  • Breaking news photography – Jennifer Ng
  • Feature writing – Catherine Cieminski
  • Editorial writing – Dora Totoian, Delaney Vetter and Gabi DiPaulo
  • General news reporting – Madison Pfeifer
  • In-depth reporting – Austin De Dios
  • Online/digital feature videography – Elizabeth Lyons-Best

The Society of Professional Journalists Region 10 comprises Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. First-place winners will compete at the national level among other regional MOE winners from twelve SPJ regions.

Regional winners would normally be recognized at regional conferences, however, all SPJ Regional Conferences have been either canceled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Regional winners have been notified by email and will receive their award certificates via mail. National winners will be notified in the late spring.

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

Beacon Wins Mark of Excellence Awards

Student journalists for the University’s news source, The Beacon, have been chosen as Mark of Excellence regional winners by the Society of Professional Journalists in the following categories:

  • Breaking news photography – Jennifer Ng
  • Feature writing – Catherine Cieminski
  • Editorial writing – Dora Totoian, Delaney Vetter and Gabi DiPaulo
  • General news reporting – Madison Pfeifer
  • In-depth reporting – Austin De Dios
  • Online/digital feature videography – Elizabeth Lyons-Best

First-place winners will compete at the national level among other regional MOE winners from the 12 SPJ regions.

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

 

“The Beacon” Wins CSPA Crown Award

The University’s digital student run news source, The Beacon, is among twenty-five digital publications chosen as finalists for the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) Crown Awards, to be presented in March 2019 at ceremonies in New York City.  The digital publications were published during the 2017-18 academic year.

The Crown Awards honor top student publications chosen from CSPA’s members. Crowns are selected for overall excellence in a head-to-head comparison. Student publishing in news, magazine, yearbook or digital (online) formats are all eligible.  During Crown consideration, publications are judged on their excellence as shown by their design, photography, concept, coverage and writing. A total of 1,100 publications were eligible for judging. This latest honor comes on the heels of Beacon wins in the College Media Association Pinnacle Awards in November.

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

 

 

The Beacon Earns National Mark of Excellence Awards

The University’s student-run news source, The Beacon, has won six national Mark of Excellence Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. Winners include:

  • Hannah Sievert, Feature Writing (Small School Division), “Call to the Church“
  • Ben Arthur, Sports Writing (Small School Division), “Tall Standards: Despite Being Undersized, Wintering and Johnson are one of the Top Backcourts in the Country.”
  • Rachel Ramirez, On-line Feature Reporting, “Life and Terror: John Paul Mugisha Finds a New Life on the Bluff.”
  • Finalist, Claire Desmarais and Brennan Robinson, General News Reporting (Small School Division), “ROTC Adjusts Training in an Era of Mass Shootings.”
  • Finalist, Annika Gordon, Feature Photography (Small School Division), “Muslim Women Answer: What Does the Hijab Mean to You?“
  • Finalist, Rachel Rippetoe, General Column Writing (Small School Division).

For more information contact student activities at x7470 or stuact@up.edu.

Beacon wins eight Gold Circle Awards for Digital Media

The Columbia Scholastic Press Association, based at Columbia University in New York City, has awarded The Beacon eight Gold Circle Awards for Digital Media. This national competition covers content published by student-run college media organizations during the 2016- 2017 academic year. The Beacon placed in the following categories: spot news photograph, sports photograph, editorial writing, breaking news, news writing (planned), general or humor commentary, informational graphics and interactive graphics. The Beacon also won certificates of merit for news feature, sports feature, and personality profile.

For more information see the article at this link or contact Nancy Copic, student activities, at copic@up.edu.

Big Wins for The Beacon

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.

 

Beacon Wins Six First Place Awards, Advances to National Competition

The University of Portland’s student-run digital news publication, The Beacon, has won six First Place awards in the regional Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence contest, and now advances to the national SPJ competition in the following categories:

Digital:

Small university (9,999 or fewer undergraduates):

National winners will be notified in the late spring and will be recognized at the Excellence in Journalism conference in Anaheim, Calif., in September.

Beacon content also placed in regional finals (Second or Third Place) in the following categories:

  • Breaking News Reporting (Clare Duffy, Hannah Baade)
  • In-depth Reporting (Clare Duffy, Malika Andrews, Rachel Rippetoe, Annika Gordon)
  • Sports Writing (Malika Andrews)
  • Best Use of Multimedia (Cheyenne Schoen, Jeff Braccia)
  • Online News Reporting (Clare Duffy,Hannah Baade)
  • Online In-depth Reporting (Clare Duffy, Malika Andrews, Rachel Rippetoe, Hannah Baade, Jenna Rossiter)

The Mark of Excellence Awards for Region 10 involved student media entries from colleges and universities in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. See complete regional contest results here.