Observer staff wins 18 awards

Staff of the Augustana Observer stand on the steps of Old Main with their awards.

Augustana College's student newspaper, the Augustana Observer, has done it again, collecting 18 awards from the Illinois College Press Association to break the newspaper's record of 17 awards in 2011.

The 2014 awards were distributed during the association's recent annual convention in Chicago. The biggest prize for the Observer staff was first place in general excellence for non-daily papers at Illinois colleges with an enrollment of fewer than 4,000 students, the top award in that division.

"When we won first place for general excellence, everyone started screaming," said Ryan Silvola '16, co-editor in chief of the Observer. "We knew that was the award we wanted to take home, and we were so thrilled we accomplished our goal."

The 27 students employed at the paper also are acquiring important job skills, especially as journalism has grown into web-based platforms, according to Dr. Carolyn Yaschur, assistant professor of communication studies at Augustana and a faculty advisor to the Observer.

"It's not only for those who seek jobs in journalism, but for anyone who wants to be a stronger communicator," she said. "Observer staff members improve their writing, visual and multimedia skills, and gain experience in social media. They also learn responsibility, meet deadlines and develop the interpersonal skills necessary in the workplace. It's like a built-in internship."

Dr. Jared Schroeder, an assistant professor of multimedia journalism and also a faculty advisor to the Observer, noted that publishing a newspaper provides a perfect introduction to a media-saturated world.

"We live in the information age," he said. "I have little doubt that students who can craft clear, fundamentally sound messages to audiences will have value in the marketplace-now and in the future."

In addition to two staff awards, 12 students won individual awards in news, sports, opinion, photography and page design.

For Shylee Garrett '16, who shares the position of co-editor in chief with Silvola, the most important part of the job is the impact on readers. "Awards are nice," she said, "but our dedication is to providing news, and if an award is a result of doing our best, then it just makes the victory of doing our job that much sweeter."

In awarding first place to the Augustana Observer staff for general excellence, the Illinois College Press Association offered this review: "A strong entry with an excellent foundation in journalistic principles, attractive design that draws the reader in and an obvious thirst for covering news from the staff."

Individual and group awards

First place:
Observer staff, general excellence and Homecoming photo essay
News Editor Chloe Dale '16, front page layout
Photo Editor Linnea Ritchie '15, feature photo

Second place:
Co-editor in Chief Shylee Garrett '16, column writing
Former Features Editor Jake Genens '16, feature story
Co-editor in Chief Ryan Silvola '16, spot news photo
Ian Magnuson '17, "Shoot Chicago" photo competition

Third place:
Shylee Garrett, feature page design
Former Sports Editor Brennan Casey '14, sports game day story
Taylor Gleason '16, cartoon strip or panel in the open division

Honorable mention:
Sports Editor Katie Canning '15, former Sports Editor Jeremy Lensing '15 and Shylee Garrett, headline writing
Former Photo Editor Kyle Soyer '14, photo essay and sports photo
Ryan Silvola, sports game story and multimedia reporting
Katie Canning, sports feature story
Opinions Editor Carolyn Muller '16, in-depth reporting