The Trumpet, Wartburg College’s student newspaper, has won the Society of Collegiate Journalists’ Overall Excellence Award for weekly publications.
The award was among six for the Trumpet and a dozen overall for Wartburg student media during the 2013 judging period. Wartburg Television stories ran the table — first through honorable mention, while The Circuit, the online news source, had two seconds.
The judges praised The Trumpet for doing an “excellent job” on “tough stories” about Adderall, stress, financial aid, sex offenders and enrollment as well as lighter stories in the Knightlife section.
“You’ve struck a harmonious balance in hard-hitting and easy reading,” the evaluation stated. “You may not please everyone, but it’s not for a lack of trying.”
Trumpet editor Kristin Canning, a senior from Lisbon who is also opinion page editor, received third place for editorial page, design and content, and honorable mention for an individual story.
Assistant news editor Caitlin Harbach, a senior from Delhi, took second for news page, design and content. Sports editor Nathan Ford, a junior from Grinnell, had third places for sports news and columns. As manager of The Circuit, he took second place for both newspaper and broadcast websites.
Wartburg Television won:
- First place — “Wrestling Cut from 2020 Olympics: Wartburg’s Reaction,” Shelby Granath, 2013 graduate, Rockford, Ill.
- Second place — “Non-Christians at a Lutheran School,” Kelsey Bemus, junior, Dunlap.
- Third place — “Behind the Lens, Telling Taylor (Morris’) Story,” about photographer Tim Dodd chronicling the life of the quadruple-amputee Afghan vet, Ben Hoppenworth, 2013 graduate, Waterloo.
- Honorable mention — “Good Morning Waverly, WTV staff.
SCJ is the nation’s oldest collegiate journalism society. Wartburg’s chapter, the oldest in Iowa, was formed in 1949.