IU Student Media
The work of Indiana University student journalists serves hundreds of readers — through the Indiana Daily Student newspaper, the Arbutus yearbook, Inside magazine and their sites and social media.
The publications are produced by IU students for IU students, with student editors in full authority for content.
Independently, the student newsroom produces the vast majority of content. A support team at IU Student Media advises the newsroom, and, at student determination, that advice and support expands to the journalism faculty in the IU Media School. It is a partnership between student newsroom and collegiate classroom that is unrivaled in its productivity. Newsroom advisers and classroom professors work together to coach students and critique content, all while respecting the First Amendment rights of the student journalists and the editorial authority of student editors.
This site focuses on the top individual awards for collegiate journalists — the IDS, Arbutus and Inside winners in the Hearst Intercollegiate Writing Competition and national first places in the collegiate competitions of Associated Collegiate Press, Columbia Scholastic Press Association and the Society for Professional Journalists.
Hearst Intercollegiate Writing Competition
The Hearst program, founded in 1960, provides support, encouragement and assistance to journalism in higher education. Student journalists at accredited journalism programs are eligible.
The program awards scholarships to students for outstanding performance in college-level journalism, with matching grants to the students’ schools. The 56th annual program offering up to $500,000 in awards, with competitions in writing, photojournalism, radio, television and multimedia.
Each year’s top winners in individual categories advance to a national write-off competition in late May in San Francisco.
IU national presence in the Hearst writing competition intensified through the work of journalist Tom French, professor of practice in the IU Media School.
French, a Pulitzer Price winning reporter at the St. Petersburg Times, is an IU alumnus who edited the Daily Student in spring 1980. Upon his return as a faculty member, in 2009, he cultivated the partnership between the IDS newsroom and IU journalism classroom, while respecting the editorial independence of student editors. His Words and Pictures course, taught with IU faculty members James Kelly and Bonnie Layton, challenges students to develop, report and present dynamic content, which is then submitted for consideration at the IDS, where editors assume full content authority for the presentations.
The newsroom/classroom partnership extends beyond French and the Words and Pictures course. A number of IU journalism faculty members enrich the education and training of IU student journalists who are staff members at the IDS, Arbutus yearbook and Inside magazine.
The result? Through May 2016, IU has won the Hearst writing five national titles in seven years.
Associated Collegiate Press
ACP presents the Pacemaker Awards for publication achievement and a number of individual awards to honor the best in collegiate journalism.
Since 1980, the IDS has won 20 Pacemaker Awards. The Arbutus has won 10. Since its launch in 2006, Inside has won two.
For individual competitions, there are seven categories – Story of the Year, Multimedia Story of the Year, Reporter of the Year, Photo Excellence, Design of the Year, Cartooning and Advertising. Judging the entries are teams of professionals with experience and expertise in each discipline.
In addition to Pacemaker Awards and individual awards, ACP sponsors Best of Show awards for publications at the Fall National College Media Convention, which it sponsors with the College Media Association, the national advisers group.
Columbia Scholastic Press Association
CSPA presents the Crown Awards for publications achievement, and its Gold Circle Awards recognize superior work by student journalists as individuals and in collaboration.
Since 1983, the IDS has won 30 Gold Crowns and the Arbutus 12. Inside has won three since its launch in 2006.
Society of Professional Journalists
SPJ’s annual Mark of Excellence Awards honor the best in collegiate journalism, with categories for print, radio, television and online.
Entries are judged first at the regional level, and first-place regional winners advance to the national competition.