Individual and organizational winners will be revealed at the ACP/CMA National College Media Convention held Oct. 25-28 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Students at Elon News Network and the organization itself were recognized as finalists across several competitions of the Associated Collegiate Press and College Media Association, the nation’s two premier college journalism organizations. Among the highest honors were ENN’s nod as finalists in the ACP Newspaper and Online Pacemaker competitions and the CMA Four-Year TV Station of the Year Pinnacle contest.
The Pendulum, the weekly newspaper of ENN, was one of 37 student newspapers (out of 165 entries) from across the country and Canada to be recognized as a Newspaper Pacemaker finalist. Editions submitted for consideration were published on Sept. 20, 2017, Nov. 1, 2017, Feb. 7, 2018, March 7, 2018 and March 14, 2018.
Pacemaker entries are judged based on their coverage and content, the quality of writing and reporting, the leadership on the opinion page, evidence of in-depth reporting, layout and design, and photography, art and graphics. The Pendulum won its only Newspaper Pacemaker in 2009. It was also named a finalist in 2009 and 2010.
“To be nominated for a Pacemaker, you have to put out a consistent product – it can’t just be one or two good papers or a great day on the website,” said ENN Executive Director Emmanuel Morgan ’19. “I think it shows the quality of the work that we put out on a consistent basis.”
About 100 websites were submitted to ACP’s Online Pacemaker competition, and ENN was one of 24 chosen as a finalist. Those two dozen organizations were awarded for the timeliness of their online content, their multimedia storytelling, their commitment to audience engagement, and their integration of social media.
ENN has never been an Online Pacemaker finalist, but The Pendulum received the honor in 2010, 2011 and 2013, and won the award in 2015.
“We are grateful to be nominated for the Pacemaker awards because it shows that people think highly of our coverage,” Morgan said.
“Elon Local News,” the broadcast arm of ENN, was also mentioned among the nation’s best when it was one of five student news organizations named a finalist in CMA’s Four-Year TV Station of the Year Pinnacle Awards competition. The Oct. 2, 2017, show was one of the entries submitted to judges.
“That’s one of the nominations that I know the staff feels really proud about,” Morgan said. “I think it just shows that we put a lot of thought and attention into what we do and the end goal is something people think very highly of.”
Students and alumnae also reeled in finalist nods in ACP and CMA competitions. They are:
- Stephanie Hays ’18 for Newspaper Page One (ACP) for a Sept. 20, 2017, front page
- Anton Delgado ’20 and Hays for Multimedia Feature (ACP) for “The Battery Man”
- Erik Webb ’19 and Elizabeth Bilka ’18 for Multimedia Sports (ACP) for “Down the road or around the world”
- Hays for Best Newspaper Feature Page/Spread (CMA) for a Nov. 1, 2017, two-page design
- ENN Staff for Best Special Section: More than Four Pages (CMA) for The Pendulum’s “For the Black Culture” edition
All individual and organizational winners will be revealed at the ACP/CMA National College Media Convention Oct. 25-28 in Louisville, Kentucky.
“It shouldn’t go unnoticed that within only two years of operating as a converged news organization, ENN is already being recognized at the highest level for producing news in print, in broadcast and online,” said Kelly Furnas, an ENN faculty mentor and lecturer in the School of Communications. “Our students have quickly begun thinking critically about how news is best presented for particular media, and it’s being noticed both locally and nationally.”