Winners for the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists awards were announced this past Monday. The Miami Student took home four awards, including first in best college newspaper. Although this was huge for all the writers at The Student, it was especially impactful for editor-in-chief Sean Scott, managing editor Luke Macy, opinion editor Devin Ankeney, and senior staff writer Mike Vestey, who graduated this spring.
The Ohio SPJ Awards include all broadcasting and news outlets within the state of Ohio, including both colleges and universities as well as professional organizations. Submissions come from all around Ohio in a variety of different categories.
The Miami Student won:
First place in best college newspaper
First place for investigative reporting for professional small publications for Scott and Macy’s “Resign.”: How Jason Osborne’s tenure as Miami’s provost came to an end”
Second place in best college opinion writing for Ankeney’s columns
Second place in best college sports writing for Vestey’s body of work coverage of professional soccer
The newspaper’s faculty advisor, Fred Reeder, says he is not at all surprised The Student did so well.
“The results of the awards did not astonish me,” Reeder said. “At Miami overall the students work very hard, and when they focus on something they're passionate about, then watch out because we have students who will work all day and all night to perfect what they are trying to perfect.”
Overall, taking home four awards was very exciting for The Student staff, especially for Sean Scott, Editor-In-Chief, who felt the work of the staff was honored through this awards ceremony.
“I am most proud of taking home first place in investigative reporting because that really reflects on the many hours both [Macy] and I and many others spent on the provost story and the articles that followed it,” Scott said. “We spent months and months on that, so to get recognition for it in the professional category was super cool.”
Macy and Scott’s reporting also won first place in two categories at the Greater Cincinnati SPJ Awards, taking home the prize for best student special project and beating out professional publications for best investigative reporting.
Scott wasn’t the only one on staff thrilled with the results of the awards. Ankeney was excited that the opinion section of the paper was able to be recognized through this competition and hopes that this will lead to more people joining the opinion column.
“I’m definitely more excited that the column area won an award more than anything, because I want more and more people to recognize and appreciate the good work we do at The Miami Student,” Ankeney said.
An awards ceremony for the Ohio SPJ Awards will be held Aug. 19 in Columbus, Ohio.
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