Wildcat, staffers take home SPJ honors

The Arizona Daily Wildcat and its staff earned eight awards in the SPJ regional Mark of Excellence competition this year. The awards were announced at the SPJ annual conference in San Francisco on May 1.

Earning first place were Michael Ignatov in sports photography, Lisa Beth Earle in general news photography, and Carly Kennedy and Ian Friedman for breaking news reporting (double bylined story). First-place regional winners automatically contend for the national Mark of Excellence award to be presented in the fall.

Michael Ignatov earned first place honors in the regional SPJ Mark of Excellence contest for this photo of Houston's Aubrey Coleman stepping on the face of prone Wildcat Chase Budinger.

Second place awards went to the Daily Wildcat in the best all-around daily newspaper competition; to Bryan Roy for sport column writing; to the news staff for breaking news reporting (yes, the Wildcat took first AND second place); and to Lance Madden for sports writing.

Lisa Beth Earle also earned a third place award in the general news photography competition. With a first and a third in that category, and a first and a second in breaking news, the Wildcat can stand proud in these two journalistically vital areas!

The breaking news entries were for coverage of  the arrest of a student who gave birth in the dorms and allegedly stuffed the baby in a bag, and for a story on  the theft of 10,000 copies of the Wildcat from our newsstands last fall.

Clyde D. Lowery

Clyde Lowery, executive director of student publications at the University of Arizona from 1973 – 1989, passed away April 11, 2010. During his tenure Clyde led the Wildcat to unprecedented growth, moved it from typesetting machines to computers, and most of all, mentored hundreds of student journalists. If you worked with Clyde, please post your memories or thoughts about him by using the “Leave a Comment” link beneath the “Clyde D. Lowery” headline. You can email photos for us to post too. We’ll share comments and photos with his family.

Photo of Clyde Lowery and Eric Swedlund, winner of the first annual “Clyde D. Lowery Award for Professionalism and Integrity in Journalism Award” in 2001

Still Winning Awards

The Arizona Daily Wildcat and dailywildcat.com carry on the tradition of excellence:

  • WINNER, Best of Show, newspaper website – Associated Collegiate Press College Newspaper Convention, Phoenix, February 2010
  • WINNER, Best of Show, daily college newspaper – College Media Advisers, National Convention, New York City, March 2010

The Wildcat also won 5 awards at the College Newspaper Business & Advertising Managers National Convention in Los Angeles, March 2010:

  • First Place, Best Color Ad
  • First Place, Best Classifieds Section
  • First Place, Best Online Display Ad
  • Second Place, Best Ad Campaign
  • Third Place, Best Newspaper Promotion

Editor in Chief for Spring 2010

Lance Madden was selected  by the Student Media Board as the spring ’09 editor in chief.  Lance has worked at the Wildcat for almost three years, with experience as a sports reporter, the sports editor, and  the EIC of the 2009 Summer Wildcat. He also won the 2009  Clyde D. Lowery for Professionalism and Integrity in Journalism award.