November 14, 2019
Daily Egyptian earns a third straight online collegiate newspaper award
CARBONDALE, Ill. – It’s difficult to “three-peat” in any sport or competition. But the Daily Egyptian, Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s student-produced newspaper, accomplished that earlier this month in capturing one of the nation’s top online collegiate awards.
The Daily Egyptian earned the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) Online Pacemaker award in the online news broadcast and magazine site division.
The DE also took home two other awards. Isabell Miller, a junior journalism major from Carterville, took second in the nation in the sports category for her November 2018 photo during the Salukis football game against Western Illinois, and Allison Morey of Bloomington, a former DE staff member who is a junior majoring in art, finished fourth in advertising for her “Player of the Week” campaign, a sponsorship by Shawnee Health Service.
ACP is the nation’s largest and oldest national membership association for college student media, according to the organization’s website. The Daily Egyptian earned the award in both 2017 and 2018.
‘Levels the playing field’
The award is for the newspaper’s work during the 2018-19 academic year. DE faculty adviser Eric Fidler said the competition shows how the internet “levels the playing field when a small program such as ours can compete successfully against the largest journalism schools in the country.”
Fidler added that the award shows the newspaper’s efforts to put digital news first are paying off. He noted that last semester’s editor-in-chief, Brian Munoz, and the staff put a lot of effort into keeping website content fresh and diversified.
“I was thrilled that we were even finalists for the third year in a row. I really didn't even think about winning it again because it seemed implausible,” Fidler said. “I always tell students they shouldn't get too high or too low over awards because you just never know what the judges are looking for, but winning three in a row is sweet. “
The Daily Egyptian celebrated its 103rd anniversary last month, with the original publication printed on Oct. 28, 1916. The newspaper now prints once a week but operates daily online at dailyegyptian.com.