Posted June 25, 2022
The Student Voice, the campus newspaper of UW-River Falls, has won seven awards in the 2021 Collegiate Better Newspaper Contest sponsored by the Wisconsin Newspaper Association Foundation. Results were announced during a June 24 ceremony in Madison.
The newspaper swept the public affairs reporting category in its division. Jack Van Hoof, who will be editor come fall semester, won first place for his November story, “Food shelf prepares for holiday season.” Isabella Forliti, a 2022 graduate who was editor during spring semester, took second with her October story “Governor visits campus for vaccine discussion” and third place for “UWRF adjusts COVID policies,” which was published in September. On the latter story, a contest judge commented, “Solid work on the topic of the day.”
Brooke Shepherd, a December 2021 graduate and a former editor of the Student Voice, won first place in the special coronavirus coverage category for “Pandemic increases bias toward Asian Americans,” which was published in April 2021.
“Very professionally written coverage of an aspect of the pandemic we hear so much about, but don’t hear many speak out on,” a contest judge commented. “Listening to a college student’s fears about discrimination and hate crimes was eye-opening.”
Shepherd also earned an honorable mention in the feature story category for “Team presents research on teaching about race relations.” The story was published in October.
The Student Voice also earned two awards in its division for the newspaper’s staff-written editorials. The October editorial “Further recognition from UWRF needed for Indigenous communities” won second place. “It’s safe to return to campus, but students should have options,” published in April 2021, received honorable mention.
Judges evaluated a total of 262 entries from 11 campus newspapers across 20 categories.
The Student Voice is a student-run campus media organization supported primarily by student fees and advised by faculty in the Department of Communication and Media Studies. Founded in 1916, it produces a monthly print edition and maintains a website, uwrfvoice.com.
For further information, contact Associate Professor Andris Straumanis, andris.straumanis@uwrf.edu or (715) 425-4645.
The article may be found online at https://uwrfjournalism.org/2022/06/newspaper-wins-seven-awards/.