College Publisher 2007 Awards of Excellence

In recognition of the outstanding achievements of our partners, College Publisher is pleased to announce this year's Awards of Excellence winners. Rivaling professional news organizations, this year's winners have excelled in not only leading but embracing the latest digital news trends. Check out this year's award winners and honorable mentions below.

Best Online News Section: The Duke Chronicle

When three Duke University lacrosse players were accused of rape, issues of gender and race were brought to the forefront of the national dialogue. The Duke Chronicle rose to the challenge of covering the controversy with round the clock reporting and multiple daily updates. By enabling article comments on the site, the Chronicle provided an invaluable community forum for readers throughout the nation following the story. Enhancing the reader experience, the staff launched a blog, which incorporated reporter and editor notes that offered readers an inside view into the breaking news process.

Honorable Mentions:

Daily Wildcat (U. Arizona)
GW Hatchet (George Washington)
The Collegiate Times (Virginia Tech)

Best Non-Daily: The GW Hatchet
(George Washington University)

A trendsetter in college media, the GW Hatchet embraced the convergence of dynamic multimedia offerings with its online exclusives. The Hatchet's groundbreaking "web extras," "web updates" and approximately 300,000 page views each month solidify the paper's top billing across the CP network. With its multimedia offerings, such as feature blog and weekly podcast, the Hatchet's daily page views edge out several major dailies, despite its twice-weekly print publication schedule. From excellence in news, features, sports and editorial coverage coupled with outstanding multimedia features, the Hatchet proves itself as this year's Best Non-Daily.

Honorable Mentions:

The Northerner (Northern Kentucky U.)
The Arbiter (Boise State)

Best Online Sports Coverage: Indiana Daily Student
(Indiana University)

The Indiana Daily Student's popular Sports Zone has become a virtual hub for sports fans. The coverage, categorized by sports, offers readers a chance to follow the latest sports news in a reader-friendly format. The Daily Student's sports section is rich with media features like striking photo galleries dedicated to each sport. During each sports season, unique blogs dedicated to individual sports are created accompanied by photos and videos. The Student's sports coverage is rivaled by no other.

Honorable Mentions:

Daily Reveille (Louisiana State University A&M)
Mustang Daily (Cal Poly — San Luis Obispo)

Best Online A&E Coverage: The Daily Texan
(U. Texas — Austin)

The Daily Texan's Online Arts & Entertainment section excels with its vibrant coverage and dedicated staff. Moving beyond traditional music and movie reviews that fill most A&E sections, the Daily Texan seamlessly combines the latest entertainment coverage with soft, in-depth feature pieces. The Daily Texan's balanced and distinctive approach to online A&E coverage launched the paper to this year's Best Online Arts & Entertainment Section Award.

Honorable Mentions:

The GW Hatchet (George Washington)
The Daily Illini (University of Illinois)
Mass Media (UMass-Boston)

Cutting Edge Award: The Daily Illini
(University of Illinois)

In an increasingly digital age, nothing is more important than staying ahead of the curve. The Daily Illini has done an impressive job of upgrading its site to include multimedia features, including audio, video and slideshow capabilities. DI-On Air includes extended audio coverage, with newscasts uploaded to the site every day. The DI Blogs allow readers a glimpse into the thoughts of the staff members who produce the paper. The aforementioned site enhancements, as well as the streaming radio audiocast of local station 107.1, make The Daily Illini this year’s Cutting Edge online newspaper.

Honorable Mentions:

The Daily Texan (U. Texas & Austin)
The Arbiter (Boise State)

Excellence in Online Advertising: The Daily Orange
(Syracuse University)

The Daily Orange takes the Excellence in Online Advertising Award for the second consecutive year. The paper's targeted and aggressive efforts to entice local advertisers have pushed online revenue to a 300 percent increase in just three years. The Daily Orange consistently sells out its inventory and optimizes revenue by offering additional advertising opportunities within the e-mail edition. With tactics like tailored sales pitches and its readily available web rate card, the Orange's annual online advertising revenue jumped from $3,000 to $20,000 over a 36-month timeframe.

Honorable Mentions:

Daily Wildcat (U. Arizona)
Daily Reveille (Louisiana State University A&M)